4A: Dracula
by DaesGatling
Summary: Sequel to the 3B Fixit Fic: Mina Harker, a monster hunter with far different moralities and ethics, arrives to Storybrooke looking to kill the vampire that shattered her life and widowed her; Dracula. As everyone struggles to recover from Mr. Dark's carnival Dracula has sights set on Storybrooke and the heroes for his own purposes.
1. S04E01: A Monster Calls

Rumpelstiltskin stared at the two standing across from him. Monster hunters by the look of them….and smell (okay, they weren't that bad, but he noticed). No one else would go after someone like that monster. So, what did he have here? The man wasn't much to look at. He was there to be all brawn, he stood at 6-foot-tall with a neck so thick that it obviously had no trouble holding his head up. The woman that called herself Mina Harker was who he had his eyes on. She was the leader of this two-man anti Dracula army, she'd pulled a gun on him and thought she could shoot him faster than he could summon the gun away. He didn't want anything to do with this. He knew young hunters, he knew their arrogance. Many had tried and failed to come after him after all. This could be easily dealt with, He turned these two into rats, and go about his night.

But Dracula. Rumpelstiltskin hadn't…. officially….met him but he'd heard enough to make his blood run cold.

"Dracula's dead," he stated simply. He knew that, everyone in his circles knew that.

She scoffed, "How would you know?"

"I know," he looked into her brown eyes and studied her closer. She'd been at this hunting business awhile, the ones that lasted past five years or so had that same dead haunted look that she had, "I know who did it. I oversaw it done."

It'd been 35 years ago, but he'd seen it done. He knew the bastard was burned and scattered

"And how is that I wonder?" she asked bitterly, "Since this evil queen's curse landed you here 28 years ago? What, were you making vacation trips nine years ago? I bloody well don't remember you!"

He froze at that. How could that be? Had Dracula come back? But they'd defeated him! They'd been sure of it, that monster couldn't hurt anyone else after they dealt with him.

He looked her over, "What business do YOU have with Dracula."

Rumpelstiltskin watched every muscle in her body go rigid, "Making sure he stays dead this time."

"Seems to be a task easier said than done."

"Clearly," she muttered.

The man she was with, the man both were ignoring shuffled, "Why are you trusting him?"

"Thomas," she warned.

"He just said he knew who Dracula was. He could be lying to us. Setting us all up to be the creature's dinner."

"Easy there, I have no love for that demon," Rumpelstiltskin hissed, "I have known many evil beings in my time but he surpasses even me."

"We need the globe," Mina reminded him.

He wanted to pull it out immediately but this woman was giving him more questions than answers. And his pride was getting in the way. After all, he wasn't scared of a small gun. But the fact was she thought herself invincible enough to put it to his head when he was defending his own shop.

"And why should I give it to you?" he snarled, "Perhaps it's not for sale."

"I'm not looking to take it, I just need to use it," she said again.

"Why should I waste that time?"

"It doesn't have to be your wasted time, you can go home and go to bed," she said simply

"And trust two hunters in MY shop near MY magic and MY precious belongings? Dearie, who do you think I am? If you two don't steal my wands, you'll steal my Mickey Mouse phone. And I need that."

Meathead glanced at them, "Why should a mouse have a phone?"

Oh wonderful, they were new to ALL this!

"I don't have the globe."

"Research says differently," Mina told him, "I traced it to your Cora and she came here and had the fortune for us to die. And so, since this is a bloody pawn shop, I can't bring myself to believe you'd toss away a locator globe. Unless you have something more powerful for locating If that's the case, may we see _that_ then?"

"It won't even work for you."

"It will," she told him with terse confidence, like she knew where this was about to go and she didn't want it to.

"The ones that can find something based on this globe are linked by blood."

"I'm aware of that."

"So, are you going to tell me you're related then?"

She went pale. She gripped the table like she was either holding on or holding herself back. Her eyes went from holding annoyance to revealing a dangerous rage, "His blood runs in my veins, but not in the way one might automatically guess, but if you DO know Dracula, I'm sure you can put it together."

Rumple deflated a little as he was putting together more of what was going on. She was marked then. He'd forced her to drink blood and somehow, they'd stopped it nine years ago. And they killed him, or so they thought.

"You alright, dearie?" he asked a bit softly, far more than a trigger happy hunter would deserve, "Turning is a rough process."

She shrank a little in his gaze, and chose to look over his shoulder than at him, "I know."

"But it was stopped?"

She nodded and managed to look back into his eyes, "Please. Let me see the globe. You know very clearly what he is. I can't not know."

"You pulled a gun on me," he reminded her stubbornly, "How do I know you won't do something that insane again? I'll not be your hostage to get to do what you want."

"I don't want you as a hostage," she told him, "I have the feeling you'd be a terrible one."

Meathead snickered behind him and Rumple wished he could turn him into a rat without getting shot by Mrs. Trigger Happy.

Belle gave him this jacket.

She was about to speak again when he heard the familiar sound of a baby started crying in the backroom. Mina stopped, her eyes grew. He saw the wheels turning in her mind as she looked towards the back curtain and then towards him.

"Well, that's very interesting," he smirked.

Meathead pulled out his gun, Rumple waved it away without even looking. Gods, he hoped Meathead wasn't the father. That poor kid.

"Don't," she warned.

"It clearly wants its mother," he smirked wider. 

"I WILL shoot you."

He waved his hand; The gun was forced by her side, "Let's go meet the little darling!"

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Things were quiet at the diner for the past two months, Red was extremely grateful for that. Her grandmother was as gruff and demanding as ever but there was something different in her eyes, a spark lost. They didn't talk about it, Red didn't know what to say. But it was there.

It was in a lot of faces now that had that same look. Mr. Dark had won in a lot of ways, he'd taken a part of them figuratively. A lot of them would never be like they were. It broke Red to know her grandmother might be one of them.

She heard the door start to ring that night and turned, 'Sorry, we're clos-."

She stopped when she saw her ex. Regina still looked good, and Red felt her body start to arouse itself with desire but at the same time her stomach clenched and her heart started racing. It used to be that Regina didn't like 'no' for an answer. Graham learned that the hard way. And here Red was...all by herself late at night with no one here to help her unless someone heard her from the inn.

"Hi Red," Regina started and didn't move from the entrance. Studying her with as much apprehension as Red had in HER eyes.

"Regina."

"I don't want trouble," Regina said gently, "I couldn't sleep. I just saw you in the window and maybe thought we could talk."

"No one can these days," Red still found it hard to relax, not after what she learned. But it'd been two months since they talked last. They had to figure this out sometime, "Beer?"

Regina made a face, "You know me better than that. I can summon some wine."

"Sure, that'd be great."

Regina summoned a battle and two glasses. Red took out a corkscrew, uncorked the bottle, and poured them both something to drink.

"You look good," Regina started.

"You look good too," Red told her. God, how did she talk to an ex? She never had one before, "Haven't seen you though, in two months."

"I didn't know if you'd want to see me."

"It varies," Red told her honestly

Regina looked hurt and took a sip of her drink, "I suppose that's understandable. I knew you'd look at me the way you do now, I've kept a wide berth. I can't bear the thought of you looking at me like most of the rest of them do."

"The people you tormented."

Regina frowned and put the glass down, "I'm reminded of that every day, Red. And I know you probably think I should constantly be reminded. What I did was reprehensible."

"It was enslavement."

"You didn't care about it those nights we were sleeping together."

"I thought you'd changed."

"I have."

"You've kept some really dark secrets," Red spat. She forced herself to calm down and looked at her, "Were you really ever going to tell me?"

"I don't know," Regina admitted quietly after she hesitated, "I thought...I thought since I was moving on and being better, it wouldn't matter. I could tell you later. Then it...we were sleeping together and falling in love. And the right time to tell you most of what I've done came and went. I was scared to lose you. There are two people I can't bear the lose; My son and you. You two are it, you're the only two that truly matter to me."

"And Emma."

"Emma is neither here nor there, she's Henry's other's mother and we have a working relationship. I know what I did to her, I know what I took from her. But she may tolerate me, but she won't look at me the way I want her to. Too much has happened between us. She may give me my chances, maybe more than she thinks I deserve...but she'll never fully trust me. Not really. I didn't want that for you and me."

"But by not telling me things like that…. I can't trust you."

"I know, that's the unwinnable thing, isn't it? My sins have come back to haunt me."

"You haven't hit rock bottom, you know. You do have a support system.'

"Who? Snow? She wants to believe in the best because it's easier but she doesn't understand how hard it is. That darkness always wants me to take what I want to be mine. But I can't, because then I know I'll lose it. And I know that's not the right answer. I know I shouldn't want to take the darkness back because it's the right thing to refuse it. But that's the problem, Red. I don't care what the right thing is. Ever since I lost Daniel, I just stopped caring. And no matter how much I want to, no matter how hard I try...I can't make myself care."

Red sighed and reached for the bottle, "So, in other words, another round then."

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Rumpelstiltskin noted immediately that Harker had put pillows in a cradle he'd been working on for Charming and Snow and placed the baby inside to sleep. Better than the cot he supposed. The baby could roll off. He was glad the mother had THAT much common sense but one never knew when it came to unwashed masses called monster hunters.

"Well, isn't she divine," he cooed and looked at her dark hair and blue eyes that didn't match her mother's brown ones. Mina moved around him, tucked the gun into the waistband at the small of her back and picked the child up, purposefully blocking his view "And what's a hunter doing with a child in a life like she leads?"

"It's not like that," Mina snapped and rubbed the baby's back until she settled down.

He took in the child. Girl obviously, the mother had her in pink. She had dark hair and blue eyes. She couldn't be more than three or four months.

"Please tell me your hovering dunderhead companion isn't the father," he muttered.

"Hey!" Meathead protested, "Keep your distance. If you touch them-."

Rumple scoffed and waved him away. Magic would take him to the toll bridge where he'd have a time of it coming back. Meathead wasn't his concern, what the Harker woman had to say WAS.

But waving him away made her jump, she pulled out the gun from where she'd put it at the small of her back and aimed it at him.

"Oh stop, that can't hurt me. He'll be fine." Rumple waved his hand, summoning two chairs and the globe, "Now let's talk."

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Two months and Emma still didn't know anything of what she was doing.

Mr. Dark had been the least of her problems. There was a new baby in the house that wouldn't sleep past two hours. A baby that her parents got to love and pour their hopes and dreams into. Who got everything she never would in a relationship with her parents. She never got that as a child. She just had to take what relationship they'd developed 29 years later.

She'd also spent 2 months of living in fear that Regina might regress again. What Emma had seen Regina do was irredeemable. It was unforgivable what she'd done to all of them. And Emma wanted nothing more than to take Henry and remove him from Regina's possible influence. Regina hadn't expressed any remorse for what she did. How was she supposed to teach Henry to have morals when she felt nothing?

But Regina hadn't regressed. She took her time with biting remarks but not much else. Emma was hoping it'd be the end of it. She wasn't sure when she'd lift the supervised visits, it felt half assed anyway. They all deserved better than just limited visits with Regina's son when they were all dead. But she didn't know what to do. Anything else would be full out war with Regina and they were lucky to survive the last time.

But she had to give Regina a chance, because Regina hadn't regressed. Emma could see she was trying. But what about the people she hurt?

Mr. Dark's mocking words about helping abusers over victims played in her mind daily...and nightly, they haunted most of her dreams

And then there was Bae, who kept his distance and waited. Emma couldn't believe she was stressed out by the fact he was respecting her wishes. But she knew he was waiting for something, anything. Acceptance? Rejection? "Not Now" was just the same as not knowing and that ate away at a person.

But her biggest problem and worry was her son. This was the third time he'd nearly died. Emma knew it affected him, and why shouldn't it? It would affect anyone. But he didn't want to talk about it, and therapy was almost like bathing a cat. The only reason he went to a couple of meetings was because Regina set an example by going to some herself. Another reason why she was allowed visitation. She was also concerned and trying to help.

He wouldn't talk. They always talked but this time he was quiet. And Emma didn't know what to do.

So, when the baby woke up crying and Emma didn't want to lay there thinking about these things beyond her control or wish to control, she'd quietly dress and use her magic to slip out into the night.

Sometimes she went to the inn to sleep, Red or Granny always kept a constant vigil. But other times she just wandered around town. On most nights, she just ended up in the pawn shop for a nightcap. She'd also seen the horrors Rumpelstiltskin did to everyone when he took the Dark Curse in that mirror maze. But with him, there was no pressure to forgive him or hear how he'd changed. He just…was. And there was an understanding. Rumpelstiltskin also had problems in getting Baelfire to talk to him, and at the most, he didn't judge her decisions. He knew how it was, he saw how hard things were for her, and all he did was pour her a drink and they didn't talk about it. He didn't tell her most nights he didn't sleep either, whether that was the Dark One curse or his year in the carnival she didn't know. He never divulged it.

So, when she passed by his shop for a quick drink and noticed the lights where on and Rumpelstiltskin was talking with an unfamiliar woman holding a baby. She wouldn't have said anything, that was their business. But when she saw the gun on the table, she immediately walked in. There was a baby there, she had to protect the infant.

"Sheriff Swan," Rumpelstiltskin greeted with that snakey smile he was so good at.

"Gold," Emma greeted and focused more on the miserable looking woman holding the baby. She saw the globe too. The plot thickened, "Everything okay?"

"Well, I suppose that depends on our visitor," he told her, "This is Mina Harker."

Emma's eyes grew a bit, "Like...Dracula "Mina Harker?"

"I'm famous then," Mina noted, no pride in her voice.

"Not in the ways you'd probably recognize," Rumpelstiltskin assured her.

Emma was so confused, "What's going on?"

"Well, I was about to get my questions answered but now I really wanna know how you know who Dracula and Mina Harker are," Rumple stated, "It's petty but I'm curious."

"I had a foster dad who liked old movies, I used to watch some. But how can this work? How is she…here? I saw it when I was like 10!"

"How does this world know any of our inaccurate stories before we arrived?" Rumpelstiltskin asked and summoned a third chair, "It's alright dearie, sit down, No one's going to torture you terribly now that the savior's here."

"Piss off," the hunter snarled at him.

He smirked and then grew serious, "She thinks Dracula's alive."

"Ookay?"

"He was supposed to be dead 8 years ago," Mina told her.

"And 35 years ago," Rumpelstiltskin said simply to Mina's obviously confusion.

"So, in other words, the other shoe is finally dropped in our little two-month paradise," she muttered.

"That's the simplest explanation, yes," Rumpelstiltskin said and put his hand on the globe to spin it, "But we don't even know if he's alive or not, that's what we were just about to do."

Mina braced herself and put the baby in her arms in the cradle next to her. She took off her black glove and hesitated.

"Afraid of a pinch, dearie?" he tilted his head.

"I'm worried about what else may be on there."

"Nothing. you're quite safe."

Emma studied him, realized he was probably telling the truth and nodded when the woman looked at her for assurance. She watched the woman prick her finger and let the blood drip on the globe. The blood on the globe swirled and formed a very familiar map.

Storybrooke.

Dracula was here in Storybrooke.

"Shit," Mina whispered.

Emma felt her blood run cold. Surely, they'd had enough, it'd been two months and none of them were even recovered! How much more could they possibly take? How much longer until was over.

"Well, that's that then" Rumpelstiltskin poured three glasses. Emma could see he was pale and shaking too, like he knew something. And if he knew Dracula...if he was this worried about him, then they should all be afraid.

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"You were the one," Regina said as they sat at one of the booths. Red fired up the grill and made them both a very very very early breakfast in order to absorb some of the alcohol, "I knew it when we were in the dark castle."

Red smiled, "Those were passionate times."

Regina smirked, "Almost every night. Three or four times."

"Once was six."

"I remember that night," Regina looked at her juice and clearly wished it was wine, "I didn't want it to end. I didn't want...anything about us to end."

"I didn't want it to either."

Regina seemed relieved to hear that, Her hand went to hold Red's "I love you. I always have, since we got together."

"I love you too," Red told her and tried to ignore her body, "But I can't abide by what you did. You need to understand how terrible it actually was."

"All I know is every time I try to be good, it backfires. I lost Daniel. My mother came back and manipulated me. I lost you and my visits to my son are supervised. Tell me, what does being good, get me?"

"Generally? Not much. Because I've been good and I've lost a whole lot too. Some of that was because of you. But that's not the point. We don't be good for the rewards. We're supposed to be good because it's right."

Regina sighed and rested the heels of her hands against her eyes, "You forget I didn't …. get the same upbringing that you did."

"I haven't forgotten. I remember the glimpses of how Cora treated you quite well."

"Glimpses, yes. But you weren't there," Regina said quietly, "I was a princess for a while before we lost that due to my mother's thirst for power. And then we were high ranking nobles because my mother made sure we didn't sink to anything lower than that. She taught me to take what I was after. That I was entitled to whatever I wanted. I learned that before I could walk. My father tried to soften the blow. He tried to teach me morals but my mother thought that was coddling. I did have some...before Daniel died. He helped me, so did my father but….my mother was very strong. She taught me to take and so I took. And it worked for me for a very long time. I've hurt people, Red. Men, women, and children are dead and were enslaved because of me. I took so many hearts I lost count. And I can try and try to be good and feel regret but we both know I can't force it. If it does happen, it'll happen when it's ready. And that might be years from now."

"But until that happens, I'm not comfortable being with you."

"And what if its not now or years? What if it never happens?"

"If you've changed as much as you claim you have...I fully believe it can happen. I saw you struggle that year up in the mountains, but I saw the gradual changes. I think you're giving yourself too little credit in not fully regretting what you've done. I think you can. But you have to change for you, you can't change because Henry will tolerate you, or because I'll get with you again. You have to change because it's right. You have to do it for you."

"How can I do that when there's no one there?" Regina demanded bitterly, "You've left me, Henry's visits are supervised by Emma or the sperm donor. I don't have anyone to support me."

"Snow supports you."

"Yeah but she doesn't understand."

"It's still support," Red leaned forward, "And….and just because we're broken up doesn't mean I don't still support you. I want you to succeed, Regina. I want you to find your redemption. And you know your son supports you, so does Emma. She wants you to be the best you can be for everyone as well. Henry's happiness depends on it."

Regina sighed, "I have to unlearn everything my mother taught me."

"That's as good a place to start as any," Red told her, "Better even."

Regina bent down and pressed her lips on the back of Red's hand, "Being better's hard."

"I know." Red told her and stroked her hair when Regina rested her forehead on Red's hand, "But it's rewarding in the end. We don't usually get much, but those moments we all have together…. they're memorable. They're worth it. Every bit of them."

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"Does this thing pinpoint his exact location?" Mina asked, she kept looking at the globe from different angles.

"No," Rumpelstiltskin set all three glasses down, "Now you're going to tell us everything you know. Because I'm no fool dearie, I know you didn't just HAPPEN to stumble here with your child in search of the beast that also happens to be here. You're here to hunt."

"No," she flinched.

"You should be ashamed of yourself, bring a child into this hunting world to hunt your enemy."

"I didn't come here to hunt him, I came to seek your help!" she snapped, "I didn't bring him here, I didn't chase him here. He came of his own free will and I tracked him. I had to! Because if I don't, and he gets at full strength, then he's coming after me. And He's coming after my daughter. That cannot happen. Once he's at his full strength, I can't stop him. So, I'm here to make sure we all get the advantage in getting our common enemy destroyed."

He tensed. He didn't want this anymore than Emma did. But if it truly wasn't her fault …. they might have an advantage, "He's weak?"

She nodded, sat down, and took the drink in her hands. Without a word, she drained the whole glass. A few minutes passed as she readied herself, "He tried to turn me eight years ago, to be a vampire like he had done at least three other women before me. It was a slow turn, an agonizing one. I had no control, I saw the darkness closing in and all I could think about was the thirst. My husband, my friends….and a professor named Van Helsing could only watch until they discovered...that perhaps if they killed the bastard, they could save me. So…. we went. My turning was nearly complete when we got there, I was no help to anyone. I was more monster than me by that point….so they put me in a circle with charms and herbs to hold me there so I couldn't hurt anyone and the bastard and his three wives couldn't take ME."

Rage took over her features, and shame, "I could do nothing as my husband tried to stand up for me when he came down the mountain. He ripped Jonathan's throat out right in front of me. I was lucid. I saw the whole thing and thanks to my…. very advanced abilities at the time, I remember the sounds, the smells, the sight of it…. everything."

Emma felt her heart break, she wasn't sure what to say. What did one say after that that didn't sound so empty? So, she just let her continue.

"We killed him, or so we thought," the grief and rage took her voice then, "But it appears Jonathan died for bloody _nothing_."

She slammed the glass down angrily and put her head in her hands.

Gold was tense, but Emma saw him force himself to relax as he went to sit next to her, "And you hunted?"

"No one believed me," she put her hands down, her eyes were red, "They said…. they said- they said it was some foreign disease. Like my husband had when all this mess started and he'd gone to visit Dracula's castle on business and came back half mad. Bloody hell, if I'd believed him…. this trouble could've all been avoided. So, I hunted for eight years, until I got pregnant with Elizabeth. And I was bloody settled down. I was doing it for HER. And then the dreams came back. Not the ones I usually had but ones like the dreams I used to have when we were psychically linked. And so, I did my research and I knew it was possible he MIGHT be here. But so was the Dark One. and so was the globe. I had to know for sure. You think I want to be within five feet of that monster for what he did? I don't….and at the same time I want to be the one to rip his throat out. But I have my daughter now. And since his vampire blood is dormant in my veins, I worry he'll want my child and that cannot happen. I have to strike when he's weaker. It'll be impossible when he's at full strength, he's at least 5000 years old."

"Indeed," Rumpelstiltskin said and looked at Emma, "He'll be looking for revenge, we need to keep Mrs. Harker and her child safe until he can be located. She cannot stay in the inn. There are too many ways in."

"I can talk to my parents," Emma said quickly, "We can probably take you in."

"In your little apartment? I think not! It's cramped enough already."

"And the look you two were giving each other, I don't think trust is established yet. It's not like she's living with YOU," Emma snapped, "She stays with me until we can get our feet on the ground and figure things out."

"I barely even know who you are," Mina said.

"I'm the savior," Emma told her, and tried not to show her slight excitement as she realized what this woman being here meant. The Dracula stuff…. that was going to be a new stress in her life but the hunter here, the hunter saved people too. She knew the blessings and burdens that came with that. Maybe she could even understand, ""My lifetime destiny to save people, just like you."

"I'm not a savior," Mina muttered, "I've saved a whole lot of people I suppose, but-"

"You are a savior then!" Emma told her as if it settled it.

"There's a difference between her being a savior and you being THE savior," Rumple told her, which she just ignored.

"We have baby things," Emma told her, "Food, diapers, bassinets, toys…unlimited suppy. We have it"

"Where is she going to sleep, dearie? That wicker loveseat?"

Emma still ignored him. She was the savior, she could keep the baby safe. She could keep them all safe. There were still a lot of holes to fill in and Emma wanted to hear this all again away from the stress this woman probably felt at having the Dark One standing over her.

"What about my colleague?" Mina shot an accusatory glance at Rumple.

"He can take an inn room, he'll be fine," Rumple saved a hand, "But Emma's right, you'll be safe there. Her magic's more powerful than mine."

"And why are you so interested in helping me?" Mina asked her.

"Because I was taken away as a child," Emma told her, "My brother nearly was two months ago. I've lost my son more than I care to admit. And I'm not going to let anyone come back in here and try the same with your child and you. Not in my town, not again."

Mr. Dark and his mirror maze played over and over in her mind.

"We gotta go talk to my parents," Emma said.

"And then we must talk to Regina," Gold told her.

Emma tensed. And she saw Mina straighten in her chair as well. The look in her eyes told Emma that she knew ALL about Regina already.

"We'll talk about that later," Emma told him.

"It's all magic beings on deck, dearie. She has to know."

"I said, LATER," Emma went to open the door, "One group at a time."

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It was getting a bit too warm in the diner, so Red went to walk Regina home. Some would figure Red was setting herself up for that old trap but Red felt she was made of stronger stuff than that.

"Has there been anyone since we broke up?" Regina asked.

"Some interested," Red admitted.

"Oh," Regina started.

Red glanced over, and added quickly, "I don't want them though."

"Why not? They're normal healthy individuals."

Red stopped outside the gate leading to Regina's house, "Because they're not you."

"That'd be the faster reason to get with them."

Red shook her head, "Don't you get it? It's not just that you think I'm the one for you. I think you're the one for me. If it's not you, then I don't care. I don't love anyone else like that. That year was everything for me."

Regina shuffled and looked down, "You can date who you want. I don't want your pity."

"Who says it's pity?" Red asked, "I believe you can find redemption. I just told you that. I love you. I want to be with you again, and I want to support you as you find that path you've set out on. You're my true love, I love you."

"Then come back to me!" Regina snapped, "Help me figure this out. I can't do it alone while you hold me at arm's length! I can't do it while I barely see my son."

"And I can't handhold you all the way, neither can your son. He's not even 14. You can't expect him to have that responsibility. You have to stand up and do it yourself while we support you."

"What if I can't?"

Red sighed, "I think we both know that can't be an option."

Regina frowned and looked back towards the house, "I'd ask you to come in."

"I'd want to, but I'd refuse."

Regina bit the inside of her cheek, "Thought that might be the case. Anytime you're willing. I'll refuse everyone else for you too, though I doubt there'd be many genuine takers. The door's always open."

"I know. Goodnight Regina," Red told her, "Or…. good morning, more like."

Regina smiled, "Goodnight Red."

They turned to go their separate ways when four figures approached them. Regina took a step back but sighed when she saw it was Rumple, Emma, and a woman she didn't recognize holding a baby, "What?"

Red stopped too.

Gold drew in a breath, "We have a problem."

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"Dracula?" Snow exclaimed.

They were all there packed in this little room. Rumple had even roused Belle and Neal to get them to come. So, it was everyone: Emma, Regina, Snow, Charming; who held her new brother Christoph, henry, Regina, Red, Belle, Neal, and Mina Harker also holding her daughter. This meeting should've been an hour ago, but Mina had refused until she made sure they found her friend and seen that he was alright. Then under her orders, he reluctantly went to the inn to rest and get their supplies ready.

"Has anyone noticed people turning up missing?" Charming asked.

"He doesn't work like that," Mina told them, "He can feed on someone for months and hypnotize him to forget about it. No one would notice anything but an ache, a cut they can easily explain away."

"Oh...well...simple then...go around at night looking in windows until we see him feeding and then trap him in the day until he dies," Regina shrugged.

Mina was confused, "What?"

"Daytime doesn't kill Dracula," Rumpelstiltskin told them, "that's a myth for this world."

"AND our job now becomes harder," Bae said.

"I can do some research, see if there's any way to kill him that everyone's missed...at least twice," Belle offered

Emma nodded, "Guys, this is important. He's dangerous. If you see anyone acting suspiciously, you need to tell me. We're going to have to alert the town tomorrow."

"They're going to be frantic," Regina told her.

"I know. But they have to know."

"I have some memories of what Dracula looks like," Rumple told them, "Bae, if you will in the morning, we can make a sketch. And Mrs. Harker here can add to it, I'm sure all I remember is the very basics."

"I'll increase the patrols," Charming said, and looked at Mina more than anyone else, "He's in this town, we'll find him."

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"I thought this was done," Snow whispered as they climbed back in bed.

"I know, Snow."

"What's going to happen?" she demanded through frustrated tears, "Villain after villain comes to this town until we die or fate runs out of them?"

"Perhaps this time will be the last."

"The last time was supposed to be the last! How did they get in! They didn't come with us! And we put a cloak on the border…"

"I suspect a portal or something like that."

"I remember when getting to this world was supposed to be impossible."

"Me too," he muttered. But that'd changed since magic was brought here. Like a tunnel built in the mountain between two train stops and now it only took seconds to get from one point to another

"And Rumple's scared? And this hunter's scared? How are we supposed to take that? What if...what if one of us dies? What if both of us dies and our son doesn't have a parent?"

He put his hands on her shoulders. He knew this was coming. Since their son had been ripped away from them and nearly aged, Snow was so afraid of losing him, or him losing them. And why shouldn't she be? It happened with Emma, it nearly happened again with Christoph. What if that was their fate? What if it always course corrected and they lost their children?

It was a thought that terrified him too.

"It will work out," he whispered, "We have two people who've dealt with him before. Our daughter's the most powerful magical being here. We will be FINE."

"You can't know that."

"Maybe not. But I believe in what you taught me yourself and that's hope."

Snow hung her head and crumbled into tears, "I'm just….so tired."

"I know," he also felt it. Snow wasn't just talking about the physical exhaustion but the mental and emotional as well. HE wrapped his arms around her, "I'm exhausted too."

"I don't think I can do this again."

"I know," he told her again. He wrapped the covers around her and held her until she fell asleep, "But we have to."

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There wasn't going to be any sleeping in Rumple's house, he knew that as soon as he saw Belle get that determined glint in her eye. Bae looked blearily at them at the kitchen table. HE had some art supplies in front of him, ready to go.

"Vampires are monsters," He told them, "They're usually dangerous mindless animals that just want to drink and sate the thirst that can never be quenched. They live past the first few hundred years? They adapt become dangerous thinking animals, and that's what we have going on now. Dracula is the oldest vampire I know of. Which means that even as he's weak, he's stillgoing to be infinitely harder to kill."

"So, we have to kill him," Baelfire said, "No question."

He nodded, "Though I doubt our Mrs. Harker is going to give anyone a choice in the matter if anyone wanted otherwise."

"It'll darken her heart though," Belle said, "TO kill him out of vengeance."

"She's doing it to protect her daughter," Baelfire said.

"Some of her reasoning," Rumpelstiltskin said, "Not all of it. But I wouldn't worry about her heart darkening through this act, not really. She's a hunter. And since she's from another world...I imagine the rules are different for her. But given what she's probably had to do, given what she's seen…. I doubt another mark on it will mean that much difference to her."

"How many hunters' hearts have you seen up close to make that judgment?"

He stopped, he knew this was already a trap so he just kept it honest, "Enough."

Baelfire sighed. Rumple felt shame at the pain that always crossed his face when he saw what his father really was. He opened his sketchpad, "Let's get started."

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It would've been a REALLY good night for Regina to have Red over. And the way Red looked at her, she could tell Red was thinking the same. Red would've refused though, she had a stronger motivation than Regina. So instead of going home, Regina went to the old vault she hadn't visited in months. She pushed it as hard as she could to get the coffin moved and she walked down the stairs.

She hadn't been down here since the beginning of the second curse, she quite forgot part of this place existed until recently.

The hearts started beating louder as she approached. Her vault. Where she ripped out so many hearts she lost count. Some had been returned upon their arrival back to the enchanted forest but not all of them. Regina had forgotten where she'd stored them. So, they all came here when the curse brought them back.

Without a word, she started stacking the boxes. They were to be returned. She would tell no one. Because if she wasn't going to learn instinctively what was right and wrong, then she supposed she was going to have to teach herself to return the hearts simply because it was the right thing to do.

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Emma took a glance at the hunter getting ready for bed. She wore a threadbare white gown that came to her knees, frayed at the bottom like she ripped the excess material away to allow better mobility for her legs.

Emma took a glance over to find Henry had gone back to bed. He'd been quiet throughout the meeting. Emma was going to talk to him tomorrow, push for therapy again.

There was really no place for the hunter to sleep except for next to Emma. She hadn't said anything when Emma admitted there was not much room despite the size of the apartment. She just asked for some privacy and changed into the gown and put her baby in the bassinet that Charming brought up for them.

Mina reached down to hold her baby's hand. The baby's blue eyes met hers and she smiled warmly at her daughter, probably for the first time since they all met.

"How old is she?"

"Five months," Mina told her and looked back as Emma crawled in the bed, "Thank you, sheriff. For offering all this."

"Call me Emma, and you're welcome. It's...no problem, really. I just…. I know what it's like to be targeted. I know what it's like to want to keep yourself and your child safe. No one really helped me when I was just starting out. I can certainly help you."

"Thank you all the same," she sighed and pulled back the covers, "I have nightmares, I should warn you."

"We all do."

"I'm in good company then," she pulled the warm covers over herself, "You're not a snuggler are you?"

Emma gave her a teasing smirk, "Only if my bed partner likes it."

Mina blinked, a bit shocked and gave a smirk, "Interesting."

"I hardly know you!" Emma pretended to be offended.

"The way you just talked, you were looking to change that in a biblical way," Mina turned off her lamp.

Emma smirked herself and stared up at the ceiling, "It's just venting."

"Getting out tension because of the carnival still?"

"You were here for that?" Emma asked shocked.

"No, but I've been here for four days learning all I can, I hear things. Plenty of things, far more than I wanted."

Emma thought of something, "Do I have to worry? About you and your partner taking more than just Dracula?"

Mina was quiet, like she was mulling it over, "No. What you do with this town and your villains is your business, unless they get in the way of what I'm here to do. Other than that, we have no problem."

"Good," Emma nodded, "Good."

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Alina was 4000 years old. Anyone that looked at her would know there was something off about the 40-year-old blonde haired blue eyed woman. She was elegant and dignified like someone in her station would be, but stare at her too long, someone would say she wasn't quite right. She wasn't, she was above these beings. She was the oldest surviving wife of countless women that Dracula had changed and lost interest in over the years. Some he lost favor in, some got killed, but she stayed on, his constant loyal companion. And that had rewarded him twice now, because she'd been there when he'd been given to her, at death's doorstep to restore him as he was.

She walked through the house, she'd barely managed to get him to this place before Harker arrived. And it was a grand house. The owner, a family and their five children were being used to placate Dracula now, but it wouldn't hold him forever. They needed something stronger.

Alina went to her husband's bedside. He didn't look himself. It was a painful process, for him to come back twice now. Due to his age and his heritage, he was VERY hard to kill. Alina hoped they wouldn't have to do this a third time or he might go mad.

"She's here, my love," Alina brushed his thin white hair back from his nearly transparent face. She loathed Mina Harker, that bitch hadn't killed Dracula herself but she was the war call for those who did it. Their battle cry. She was just as responsible. Just as she was responsible when she hunted down and murdered the other two wives. Just as she was responsible for the rest of their kind that she slaughtered.

The mention of that...woman…. being here did nothing to stir him. His heart monitor that let her see stats she quickly learned to understand did not change.

"Are you hungry?" Alina went to the refrigerator and pulled out a blood bag. One of the children's. She'd have to ease up on them, they were not as strong as other families had been in the past. She went to hang it next to the IV stand and placed the drip next to him.

Alina rested her forehead against his, "She's found them for us. They're all with her now. They've taken her in."

Nothing. Now he was just being stubborn.

Alina leaned forward, "She has a baby with her."

It was her last resort. The last thing Alina wanted was for Dracula to feel any sort of attachment to that woman other than making her life as shattered as it already was. Alina remembered how she was before. It was quite the contrast with how she was now. But it wasn't enough, it would never be. Not until they took everything.

But with her words, he gave a weak moan.

Dracula's eyes opened.


	2. s04E02: Hunting Season

Henry knew it was a dream as soon as he closed his eyes and the old familiar places started to form around him as he dropped off to sleep. It was like his room up in the loft with his mom but things were different. It was light outside even though he knew it was supposed to be dark. The room was empty even though he knew at the back of his mind they had a new guest and her baby with them now.

Another mission, another fight. He was trying to be optimistic but he was still so tired. He didn't know how to talk about it. He nearly died but his mom saved him, like he knew that she would. He told her he loved her and she saved him from suffocating. They'd saved each other. Why was he so upset when the other times he nearly died, he was able to bounce back?

Maybe because the first time he nearly died, they'd been slammed so hard with everything else that he didn't have time to process it. And then when Pan treid to kill him, he got his memories wiped and never had to sit there thinking about it. By the time he woke up, he was taken again and nearly buried alive.

That was the theory on what he heard his grandpa say when they thought he wasn't listening.

He didn't get these weeks to think about it like he did now. And it was all that he thought about. His grades were slipping, he was fighting some, his moms were trying to force him into therapy but he didn't want that. The last time he was forced into therapy, his adopted mom was trying to convince him he was crazy. And he wasn't crazy. It hadn't helped to talk last time, why would it help this time?

So, he dragged his feet. He went to a couple of meetings to make them happy but he didn't really say anything. What was there to say? He was nearly killed again. IT wasn't the first time; it wouldn't be the last.

He could endure the nightmares. He knew how it usually went by now

He knew he wouldn't be able to move from the bed. Just like he never could. He knew the scene would change from the safety of his room to the terrifying suffocating coffin, like it always did. He would feel the suffocating fear that took his breath away. He would feel the sweat as everything closed in around him. He wouldn't know if the lack of breath was the fear of the fact he was literally running out of air.

Henry always knew it was a dream. But it didn't stop him from waking up with a startled cry most nights now. But he was getting better, he wasn't screaming so loud anymore. So maybe his mom and grandparents didn't know he still had them.

The night played the same, as most nights did. He woke up in a cold shaking sweat. He had to tell himself over and over it was a nightmare before he started to process it. Then he was creeping down the stairs to get something to drink. Terrifying nightmares about one's trauma made one parched.

He didn't notice the figure sitting at the table until he opened the fridge and the light streamed in. It was the hunter, sitting quietly. He jumped when he saw her but had enough thought to hold onto the milk in his hand.

"Hi," he managed a shaky greeting. He wasn't sure what to make of her yet. She was quiet. She hunted things, she had a bad past. Something wanted to hurt her and her baby. Other than that? He didn't know.

"Hi," she said quietly. His grandparents and new uncle slept a few feet away.

"You're not asleep," he noted.

"Neither are you," she nodded.

"I got thirsty," he looked down at his drink and then realized his mistake, "Would you like something to drink?"

"No thank you," she told him, "Did the nightmares was you up?"

He stopped and shifted his gaze, staring at his drink.

"It's okay," she told him gently, "I don't sleep much these days either. It doesn't seem like many people do."

He looked up, "How do you mean?"

"Lots of people up tonight. It would seem."

"We're all going through a thing."

"I heard."

He looked back up at her, "How much did you hear?"

"About the Dark Carnival? This and that."

"People wouldn't talk to you, you're a stranger and they're starting not to trust strangers."

"One just simply knows how to ask," she told him, "And one especially needs to know how to listen."

"Is that why you're sitting in the dark?" he asked, "Cause of nightmares?"

"Yes."

He blinked at her honesty, "You could go outside."

"Not safe at night," she looked towards the crib, "And Lizzie's asleep."

He looked towards where she was looking, "Is that her name?"

"Elizabeth but I call her Lizzie."

"Was her dad a hunter?"

Mina smiled a bit, "In a way."

"And you were a hunter too."

"Yes," she muttered, "I was a hunter…or am….doesn't seem I've retired, have I?"

"So you killed a lot of monsters?"

He watched her hands clench on the table. He watched as her eyes took a distant look, like she wanted to be anywhere else but here and she was distancing herself. He immediately felt bad and wanted to retract but she sighed, "Yeah, I have."

"Cool," he muttered but he didn't mean it. No when she looked like that.

"No," she whispered, "It's not."

"Oh," he muttered, "But you're a hero though? In your own world?"

Mina toyed with a splinter sticking out of the table. She went even more tense, "I'm not a hero."

"But you save people."

Mina stood up, "I've got too much blood on my hands to ever call myself a hero."

He felt guilt, "Sorry."

"No, it's okay," she pulled a small blanket around her shoulders, "Enjoy your drink, Henry. I'm going to try to get some sleep.

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Emma knew before she even went to bed for the night that heading into the town meeting to discuss the newest threat wasn't going to go over well. No one was anywhere near recovering from Mr. Dark and his carnival. Now how was she supposed to explain that an evil vampire and monster hunters were there. How was she supposed to explain how they slipped under their noses without anyone recognizing there was a problem?

Emma had finally managed to get a couple hours sleep, but when she and her parents woke up the next morning, the hunter and her baby were already gone. None of the food was touched. She left her bags behind, which told Emma that she was coming back. It was a relief more than anything, Emma didn't want to have to worry about how a mother was supposed to give a vampire the slip in the middle of the night with a baby in tow.

Mina was there with her male companion at the town hall meeting. Her daughter was in her lap. Emma felt a pang of guilt in her chest as she watched Mina rub her daughter's back. This woman was a monster hunter, she saved lives. She still had and kept her baby. She took her daughter and came to get help when she realized her enemy was alive.

If a monster hunter could keep her baby, what had been stopping Emma all those years ago?

She pushed the guilt away as she stood before the eyes of the town. Emma hadn't wanted this. She wanted it all to be over, she wanted to rest for the rest of her life with her parents and her son. Hadn't they been through enough?

And when the town went into an uproar as Emma told them about the newest threat, she knew it was going to be an uphill battle.

"What do you MEAN Dracula's here?" Grumpy seemed to speak for the town, "We would've noticed a bunch of dead bodies popping up, wouldn't we? With holes in their neck and no blood?"

Emma looked to Mina for guidance. She knew more about this than they did. Emma thought she might have some ideas about it from the vampire movies and books she read as a kid but then again Emma thought she knew about fairy tales only to be proven very very wrong.

Mina put her baby on her hip and went to stand next to Emma, "He doesn't work like that. I don't even know why someone would think that's how they worked. It would give him away too quickly. He prefers to drink on someone for days or even weeks to months before they succumb. I'm here to hopefully stop that before it happens."

"Well who are YOU exactly?" Grumpy exclaimed.

"Mina Harker, I was…a victim of his a long time ago. I'm here to make sure it doesn't happen to anyone else."

The town bristled a bit at the stranger. Strangers never meant well in Storybrooke, the only one that ever came after the curse broke and didn't mean them some kind of harm was Neal.

Emma's eyes went to Neal who sat with Henry. She swallowed hard at the feelings that started to surface. No, she had to ignore those right now. She couldn't be distracted.

"How do you propose we find a vampire then?" Grumpy asked, "I remember the tales, I know the sunlight only makes them slightly weaker, is that true?"

"A bit, but one still wouldn't want to meet one as powerful as him," Mina said bitterly, she adjusted her baby and then spoke up, "We do have an advantage though. This isn't like I had it in London, this is a small town. Therefore, everyone knows everyone. Strangers can raise eyebrows. He's only been here for a limited time, we have a better chance at finding him."

Emma thought of something, "And Ms. Harker's an eyewitness to what Dracula looks like. We can use someone whose an artist for what he looks like."

Mina looked at her, like she was surprised but gave a quick nod, "But here comes the hard part. We need to actually FIND him and to do that, we need to find his food source. He's weak for now, which means he needs blood and he can't hunt on his own…god willing. So, I need a town census. And then we need to examine EVERYONE as thoroughly as possible."

Everyone REALLY shuddered at that and people started to murmur.

Mina's jaw clenched, "I know it's invasive but trust me, the alternative is FAR worse."

"And why should we trust you?" another voice yelled in the crowd.

"Because gathering you all to lie seemed like a fun way to spend my morning," she said sarcastically.

Emma looked at her, "Strangers are hard to trust and just not in the small-town way."

Mina kept her eyes on the crowd, "I've seen the alternative. Dracula is practically unkillable when he's strong. We CANNOT let him get close to that ever again."

"I know we're all reeling still over Mr. Dark," Emma told her people, "We barely survived the last encounter intact, but if we strike now then we can find him before we reach that same dangerous point."

"We keep reaching that point over and over and over again."

"This time's different," Emma told them, "This time we have advantages."

Doctor Whale stood up, "You're from the World Without Color, aren't you?"

Mina nodded, "I am."

He smirked, "I thought as much. Dracula's name was well known as a foreign prince even when I was there ."

"Friend of yours, is he?"

"I never met him, obviously luckily for me. But I'll do what you need. I'll provide the examinations. And I'm sure I can talk some of the other doctors and nurses into assisting me."

Emma knew his reasoning. He had nearly died because of Mr. Dark, he thought he'd gotten his dead brother back only to lose him again. Frankenstein didn't want to be put in that position of vulnerability again. And if Dracula became too powerful, they were all vulnerable.

"I will help" Mina said simply, "I know what to look for."

"And maybe with Granny and Ruby, maybe we can sniff them out," Whale offered.

Mina was confused, "I'm sorry?"

"They're wolves," Frankenstein said like it was the most obvious thing in the world, "And it IS the full moon."

Mina's male companion jerked in his seat. His eyes grew in panic and he went to search the crowd for the diner owner and her granddaughter.

Emma thought she saw his hand close on a knife tucked in his boot.

"Thomas," Mina whispered and shook her head gently. No one was paying attention but Emma was.

And from the raw hatred in Mina's companion's eyes, she knew they were about to have a problem.

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Rumpelstiltskin thought the meeting went a lot better than anticipated, he thought everyone was just going to riot. To his eternal happiness, they didn't. Emma's victory against Mr. Dark bought her enough goodwill for them to trust her and the hunters that they brought with them.

But Rumple knew there might be a problem, he saw the panic that the man had when he heard about Granny and Red. He thought at first it'd been stupid for Victor to blab what they were to two monster hunters. Then he sat back and realized they never told the town what their occupation was. Either they forgot to tell the town or they realized saying such might cause mistrust. Either way, this town didn't know completely what they were. That could either benefit them or impede them.

The monster hunter had a crowd descend on her as soon as the meeting was over, she answered every question that she could and finally everyone started to disperse.

Snow and Charming were the last people that waited to speak with her. Like Harker, Snow carried her baby in her arms.

"We have a census," Charming told her, "We took it as soon as we arrived here again, we wanted to get a headcount on all who was here and who wasn't."

"Word of Dracula being here and the danger should spread," Snow told her, "We'll examine everyone…or try to. If Dracula's feeding on someone, we'll do our best to find them."

"Thank you," Mina told them, he heard the genuine gratefulness in her voice.

The Charmings noticed him standing there and tensed a bit. He didn't blame them. He manipulated them their whole lives, he didn't expect them to ever be best friends. But they were on…friendly terms since they all banded together to get rid of Mr. Dark.

"I would like a word with Mrs. Harker alone," he said simply.

Charming put his hand on Mina's elbow, Rumple watched and she tensed at the contact, "If you need anything, let us know."

"I will." she nodded, "Thank you."

Rumpelstiltskin watched until they were far away and he looked back towards the monster hunter, "Sleep well. Mrs. Harker?"

"Hardly sleep anymore. From what I understand, you don't either."

"Ah, so you HAVE done your research about me."

"A Dark One's big news, if I have to be near one, I'd like to know everything I can, Rumpelstiltskin."

"I wouldn't expect less from a monster hunter," he told her, "Speaking of your occupation, I've met plenty of your kind in the past."

"I can imagine."

"Which gives me the distinct advantage of knowing what you and your companion are capable of. I do my research as best I can too. And I imagine you have quite a bit of blood on your hands."

Mina went completely still, "One has to in this line of work."

"Oh no matter, your history does not worry me. But it might worry them if it hasn't already," he nodded towards the Charmings, "They have quite the naive view of good and evil sometimes. Certainly, not in a way that might support you in your endeavors."

"Are you trying to turn me against them?" she asked, "And here I thought Dark Ones were good at manipulation."

"I am merely warning you. If you find yourself at odds, there is always a room open at my home."

"Why?"

"I feel generous."

"I don't believe it."

"You possess all the knowledge about how to fight Dracula, do you think I'd ignore how valuable you are?"

"If I possessed the knowledge at how to defeat him, I'm sure he'd have been dead eight years ago."

"You're valuable either way."

"And what's the price?" she asked, "It can't be the usually, I rather love my firstborn."

"Yes, I can tell," he noted the protective way she held her sleeping daughter, "But that's not my price."

"Then what is?"

He went right to his point, "I'm not sure if you're aware of this, but there's a book written about your Dracula here. An inaccurate work of fiction, I can assure you, but to the point, the book is written mostly in the form of journals. Now I have no idea how accurate that might be, but might you have journals?"

Mina averted her gaze, "No."

"The truth now, out with it."

She looked back to see if anyone was watching, "They were my husband's. They were my friends' journals as well. You can't have them."

"They might be imperative."

"I've read them a thousand times over about Dracula."

"All the better for a set of fresh eyes."

"No! Please they-," she started and stopped, "They're all I have of his. That and his wedding ring, please."

He realized this might be difficult, "Of course. But if you change your mind…perhaps I can find something."

"I'll keep that in mind," she said in a way that settled the issue.

"As you wish" He acquiesced, "IF you wish to contact me, I'm sure you already know where I live."

"The pink house with green trim is rather hard to miss."

He scowled, "Salmon, dearie. It's a salmon color."

He saw Emma coming up and decided to take his leave.

Emma took in Rumpelstiltskin as she came up. With a polite 'Miss Swan," he left and went to join his family.

"Good news," Emma told her, "Neal agreed to draw Dracula's likeness for you. We could have a picture by the end of the day."

"Neal is…"

'You met him last night."

"I met a lot of people last night," Mina whispered and gave a look over towards Regina. Her arms tightened around her baby.

Emma got right to the point, they had a lot of work to start on, "I saw how your friend reacted at the mention that Red and Granny were werewolves. Do I need to worry about that?"

"Are they dangerous?"

"No, they're allies."

"Then you don't need to worry about it from me," Mina told her.

"What about your friend?"

"He might be less tolerant than I when it comes to wolves"

"Should I be worried?"

"I'll handle it," Mina told her simply.

"And if you can't?"

"You will be made aware," she started to leave, "I'll talk to him. Then I'll meet you at the hospital."

"What about the picture?"

"Neal can draw it there. We have to find out where Dracula's food source is."

"But-."

"Sheriff," Mina turned and walked back towards her, "Trust me, Thomas needs to be talked down first."

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Mina Harker was not a nice person, not anymore. She had been once, eight years ago in a way that felt like a lifetime away. A bloody proper lady with tea time and small talk about the weather and plans after her fiancé left the office. She had once had so many plans that involved things like marrying Jonathan and having a family….doing everything her little Victorian status would allow her.

That was before everything. Before her husband was murdered in front of her by that monster that they were here for. Before her little idyllic life came crashing down around her and she saw how little things like tea time and weekend plans mattered in the long run when the world was overrun with creatures of the night.

And here in this place they could NOT afford any distractions. She told herself that as she went to seek out her companion. He hadn't gone far, hunters had a way of sticking close in a world that they didn't recognize. He needed her as much as she needed him. She needed someone she recognized in this odd little world within a world where nothing made sense and rules and morality hardly mattered.

She found him in his room, staring at a small doll in his hands. He didn't look up when she came in, but his entire demeanor gave away that he knew she was there, "She'd be about ten now."

Mina was quiet, "I'm sorry."

He looked up at her, eyes red, "How old would yours have been?"

It wasn't a harsh question, but an innocent one. It still slammed her in the chest, it still ripped out her stomach and left her falling. Another life taken because of that monster, the little one growing inside her when her husband died didn't have a chance after Mina watched his lifeblood drain form his throat, "Seven."

"Children shouldn't be put on this earth just to suffer and die."

It was a statement that led to a question Mina had asked herself over and over as she mourned the losses Dracula inflicted. And it was something she asked as she watched the chaos around her. What was the bloody point of all of it? Why was she pregnant just to lose it? Why did Thomas have a wife and child just to lose to werewolves before his daughter was hardly old enough to be in school.

"I know what you're going to ask of me," he told her and studied her, "You're going to ask me to stand down, aren't you?"

"Yes," she whispered. This was dangerous ground; Thomas had lost his family to wolves like the ones in this town.

"They're werewolves, Mina," he said and looked back at the doll in his hand, "I show no mercy on them anymore than you show on vampires. We both have our reasons. You can't ask me not to strike and expect to not look like a hypocrite. If it was a vampire you wouldn't even be talking about this with me. You'd be out putting the bastard down."

"Werewolves are a bit different than vampires, Thomas," she reminded him gently, "They can control it, they can be good decent beings and live long lives without hurting anyone. Vampires are bloody parasites with no control over their thirst-"

"The younger one is with the Evil Queen," he reminded her, "We're in their den as we speak, God know what they might hear. How can you know she's with the Evil Queen and expect her to be an upstanding person?"

"I trust the sheriff"

"Why?" he asked.

"Because she hasn't given me cause to mistrust her yet," Mina told him, "And because their alliance is important if we're all going to get through this hunt alive."

"So you'd deny me my revenge so you could have yours?"

"It's not revenge if they had nothing to do with your family's attack."

"And once again, Mina, what about the vampires YOU put down?"

"And once again, they're different."

"We should have done our research better," Thomas growled, "How did we NOT find out we were in the wolf's den until just today?"

"Because we didn't think to check," she told him simply, "We're not here for hunts in the town, we're here for a specific purpose. We cannot lose focus on that."

"You looked into the Dark One!"

"Because that's the Dark One," she told him, "And he's decided to take an interest in me and what I might mean in this fight. Of course I'm doing bloody research into what he might pull."

"Mina, they're not as sentient as you might want to believe. They can't always control their ability either. Sometimes they don't even care to and countless people get slaughtered. Can you say for sure they might be allies? They're wolves, there's going to be blood on their hands. One is romantically involved with the evil queen. No one's involved like that and completely innocent."

Mina almost couldn't argue with that, she clenched her jaw, "Show me proof they are as irredeemable as that bitch then. Show me what they've done that is on par with what SHE'S done. Or are you suggesting we kill two women because of who one might sleep with and just because of what they were born into? You know my ethics better than that."

"You can't risk it," he whispered, "If that bitch queen realizes that doing good isn't for her and takes the wolf down that road with her, it would be disastrous. We know this world; we know the horrors things like them inflict on innocent people that we swore to protect-. We've seen this world's danger, Mina. You can't in good faith say they might be completely innocent. You know better."

Mina sighed, "We've also seen our world's wonder. We've seen its beauty."

He looked back down at the doll in his hands, "The wolf that slaughtered my family pretended to operate on the side of the heroes, Mina."

"I know," she whispered., "But you can't lump them all together. because of what they are. Your partner for years was a witch, you know very well not all monsters are evil"

"I know!" he snapped.

"Werewolves count under that too.. We're not bothering them, we can't. We don't have enough proof that I would feel comfortable deviating from our goal to hunt two women."

She started to walk away, as soon as she was out of range, he rolled his eyes and loaded his gun.

Mina wouldn't react this way if someone was asking her to spare a vampire.

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Regina hadn't told anyone that she had spent all night returning to hearts to everyone that she currently had access to in Storybrooke. She probably hadn't done it in the most polite way. She just simply knocked on the door until they answered and then shoved the heart back in their chest. It hadn't been an easy task. She had to use quite a lot of magic just to remember whose heart belonged to who. Then she had the WONDERFUL town meeting introduction of monster hunters and the newest threat to the town running around had derailed her for a bit.

Ugh. Regina hated monster hunters. They had been a constant irritant as soon as she'd taken her power. They were much worse than assassins in her opinion. Assassins usually dealt with humans, hunters dealt with all sorts of beasts and humans. They had far more fighting knowledge, dirty tricks, and weapons up their sleeves.

And were far less honorable than assassins were. They had to be against the villains they constantly faced.

Regina considered leaving town hall intact and NOT running into a sniper sometime into the morning a plus. Though by the way the hunter was looking at her, Regina figured maybe Harker was hoping she'd run into Dracula for them and save them the trouble of finding her.

Bitch.

It was getting towards evening when Regina finally stumbled into the diner, wearing heels to return everyone's hearts had been a bad bad idea, Regina wondered if she still would've ripped away hearts decades ago if she knew walking all over town in heels not designed for that to return them was going to happen.

She sat at the bar with an agonized groan and considered healing herself. Her feet had to be covered in blisters, and to heal it she had to first realize she'd have to look at the damage done to her feet. She didn't feel like that yet, she was starving. Looking at that sight would make her lose her appetite.

Red came up to her, "Whatcha having?"

"I can get another waitress if you're still uncomfortable," Regina told her and secretly hoped she wouldn't.

To her relief, Red shook her head, "Not many of them still want to deal with you."

"Well what else is new?" she muttered, still hurt that they weren't trusting her. It'd been over a year since she was evil. She was still trying, what more proof did they need?

Red poured her a drink, "They're all talking, they say you spent the day returning hearts. Some worry you might have a trick up your sleeve."

Regina huffed. Of course, they were talking, of course they were suspecting her. She tried to return everything and do the right thing and she was still getting judged for it, "I just wanted to give them back."

Red glanced up, "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because I didn't want you to think I was doing it just to get you back," Regina said honestly, "I wanted- I wanted to try and do the right thing for once."

Red smiled, "And how did that feel?"

Regina sighed, when she first started she had hoped that there'd be some relief that came with doing good. Like she was filled with something uplifting that made her want to continue to do good things. And to some extent that was there. But it was more complicated than that. With the hearts in her possession, Regina had security, she had ways to stop people who might seek out to hurt her. To get rid of those and know she might never rip out a heart again? she didn't like the idea of this sort of vulnerability.

"It's….not what I expected," she admitted and told her how she was feeling.

Red took her hand, "This is good, Regina. This is a good start."

"I don't know if I have it in me to be completely good," she admitted to Red and started shaking a bit. The last time she was good, she watched Daniel die. She let herself fall to manipulations and she took that and ran with it. She knew very well that she could never be what Snow wanted, she could never be the woman that she used to be.

"You don't have to be completely good overnight," Red told her.

No, she couldn't, they wouldn't let her, everyone would suspect her for the rest of her life. They couldn't even be thankful she was returning hearts! They thought that she had some sort of agenda.

"I need to go to the hospital," Regina told her, "I need to talk to Emma about what we're supposed to do about this Dracula situation. She's there dealing with the examinations….or…getting people to the examinations. I don't know, I didn't pay much attention."

"I'll be right behind you, I need to see if this monster hunter might have something belonging to Dracula. We might track him faster that way."

"Be careful," Regina cautioned, "I think you've probably met your fair share of monster hunters yourself."

Red gave a quiet scoff, "I think this woman's way more obsessed with Dracula to even notice there's a werewolf on her side."

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It'd been a long day and Red was tired before the sun had even set. She hadn't slept much last night, and tonight didn't look any better. She was imperative to this hunt over Dracula. If he was more powerful at night, then she needed to get home and get a few hours' sleep before the full moon hit and she was out looking for him.

If he was more powerful and her senses were at their peak, then maybe she could find him tonight!

But going home was too far just to go back into town a couple hours later, she was going to sleep in the inn.

A part of her just wanted to go to Regina's house, but she couldn't. Returning the hearts was a big step. Regina might be well on her way but she didn't seem to realize the gravity of what she'd done. What happened if she never did? What if she was right and it wasn't in her wiring to realize something like that? Could Red live with Regina doing good things as opposed to bad because it's what other people wanted from her while she herself didn't understand how far her actions went?

And what of their relationship? Red had promised to wait for her and support her. What if Regina never quite…..realized what she'd done? Would Red still be her girlfriend? Maybe one day even her spouse? Love her for her including everything she'd done?

And if she got with her again, when did that happen? How many acts did Red have to see her do before it was safe to take her back?

Or would it always be a spit in the face to Graham, Belle, Regina's other victims and the war they fought?

She didn't know. She was just tired. She wanted to think about it all when Dracula was dead and the hunters had moved on.

A movement at the top of the inn stairs caught her eye. She looked up just in time to see Thomas holding a gun. He didn't say anything as he fired the weapon. Red was so tired and shocked she didn't have time to dodge it, something that felt like a blow slammed into her shoulder, inches from her heart and sent her tumbling down the stairs.

Shit…SHIT!….

She rolled to her stomach to try and find a handhold, she had to pull herself up and fight. Thomas was faster, he was down the stairs in less than three seconds.

It took him two more to use his velocity to aim a well-placed kick against her head, knocking her out.

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Emma always seemed to forget how much bigger Storybrooke was when someone was walking door to do to get things done. She had set up as many nurses and doctors as she could at the hospital but there was still the matter of making sure everyone left their homes to get examined. That meant Emma and the dwarves were going door to door to convince everyone left to go get checked out. It was a task easier said than done, not everyone was operating with the belief that they were really in THAT much danger. At first Emma was confused but she had to remember that they didn't know Mina Harker…and Dracula was something from another world. The only links anyone had to this monster was Rumpelstiltskin and Whale at least knowing the name. He wasn't linked to anyone else in the town.

"That's everyone on this block," Emma told Regina as she went to the yellow bug, "We're probably going to have to try to hit two more before it gets dark. Then that's it until morning, I don't feel comfortable going door to door after the sun sets."

"Hmm," Regina looked back towards the town.

"So…," Emma tried to find a conversation starter. Since she confronted Regina over the things she now knew she did two months ago, it'd been awkward. But at least this time, Regina hadn't regressed. Quite the opposite actually, "Heard you returned the hearts."

"I'd rather not talk about that, Miss Swan," Regina snapped and gave her a frustrated look, "I'd much rather talk about why there was a hunter in the apartment with you all."

Tense and snappy, that was the mood Regina was going for. Okay, Emma told herself she could play too, "You mean the single mother scared out of her mind and who came to help us? Yeah, I let her stay with us."

"Sure that's the image she wants you to believe."

"If you're going to say something, Regina, just say it. I'd like to get done with at least two more blocks before I have to go home."

"Monster Hunters are dangerous and you let one right in to sleep close to our son."

"Everything in this town is dangerous, including you."

"And an unwashed hunter you've never met, do you know what they're capable of?"

"Her name is Mina Harker, as far as I know, has been nothing but upfront and honest with me."

"in the less than 24 hours you two have known each other? Clearly it's true love then."

Emma bristled, "Better than some people I know."

Regina's jaw clenched and she tightened her hand into a fist, 'I'm trying to fix this. I'm trying to be better."

Emma stared her down, "You're not going to rail against her like you railed against me just because she's near Henry."

"That's not it."

"I seem to remember you trying to make me sound like a dangerous person too when I first got here."

"This isn't a game. This isn't a con. Most monster hunters don't live to be close to 30 without doing a lot of vicious things to get that far"

"That's not my problem," Emma snapped, "That's her business."

"It's all our business, especially if she's around Henry."

Emma leaned forward, "I wouldn't be one to talk about being dangerous if I were you. You think I don't figure she's probably done dangerous things? I'm not a completely idiot, Regina. I know she doesn't get paid because she subscribes to our idea of forgiveness and redemption. But she hasn't shot at you yet, she hasn't shot at Rumpelstiltskin though I hear it got close…Draculas' here and she knows way more about killing him than anyone else here does."

"Not really," Regina snarled, "He'd be dead if that was the case."

Emma stopped and turned, "Regina, I'm not blindly trusting anyone. The moment she acts dangerously, she's away from Henry and my brother. But until then, I have no reason to believe she's going to hurt any of us."

Regina refused to back down, "You haven't met any monster hunters, so you have no idea what you're talking about. I have, I know what they're all capable of-."

Emma had seen a car turn the corner, but she didn't pay attention to it until it careened to a screeching stop and the little devil they were speaking of screamed her name out the open window.

Great.

The hunter reached out of the window to unlock the door on the outside and stepped out. Emma looked in the driver's seat to see one of the dwarves had driven her. The way the hunter stumbled out of the truck, it hadn't been an easy drive. Emma also noticed the baby in her arms. Emma was going to have to introduce her to the concept of car seats.

"Emma," the hunter regained her footing and came up to them, "Emma, I've been looking everywhere for you."

"Did you find Dracula?" Emma asked.

"No," Mina barely looked at Regina before turning back to Emma, "It's the other matter, I told you if you needed to worry, I'd let you know."

"I need to worry, don't I?"

"Yes. Very much."

Emma knew this might happen, "Get in the car."

"What's going on?" Regina demanded.

"Red might be in danger," Emma told her, "We might need you with us."

Regina didn't say anything for once, instead she automatically went to the backseat

00000000000000000000000000000

Red had been shot with an arrow before, by her grandmother after she killed Peter. But it had felt nothing like this bullet wound in her shoulder. She lay slumped in the corner of the inn room, and the bleeding wouldn't stop. She'd tried to pull out the bullet out, but gotten a shotgun in her face as a result.

"How are you feeling?" The hunter called Thomas asked her.

"Like hell," she spat, and looked down at her arm, she wasn't even moving it but it was sending pulsating agony down her chest and arm, "What's in this bullet? What did you do?"

"Dipped in a little poison of my own design," he told her and squatted across from her, "It'll hurt worse if you try to move."

Red wasn't sure she could even try without throwing up, "Are you going to kill me then?"

"Yes."

"You won't get far when you do," she told him, "If you let me go now, I can fix this."

He scoffed and scratched his head, "What your lot will do to me is a cakewalk compared to what I've done and seen. Anyway, who will enact the punishment? Your girlfriend? I thought she was pretending to be on the side of the heroes."

"What do you want?" Red asked.

Thomas stopped and admired the orchid in the vase, "Mina believes not every monster is evil. And she's right in some ways. I've seen monsters framed for things a human does in hopes he can get away with it. That happens, you know. And most times the humans DO get away with it. So, I don't think all monsters are inherently evil, but there are some that are. Vampires definitely…"

"And what?" she demanded, "Werewolves?"

"Can you honestly tell me how 'good' it looks knowing you're sleeping with the Evil Queen?"

"Its more complicated than that, I broke up with her when I found out some things she's done."

"Have you killed anyone, Red Riding Hood?"

Red's silence was his answer. He leaned closer, "Who have you murdered?"

"My boyfriend," she said through clenched teeth, "We thought he was the wolf…he wasn't."

"And who else?"

"I don't want to play this game."

"Who else?"

Red closed her eyes, "No."

"Tell me, or I end it all for you right here," he put a handgun to her forehead.

"My mother."

"Why?"

"it was an accident."

"Quite an ongoing excuse for you."

"She was going to kill my best friend," Red spat.

"Who else?"

"Soldiers, it was a war."

"Anyone else?"

Red was quiet, she choked back tears, "Villagers that were trying to hunt me. It was before I knew I was the wolf."

"Villagers, soldiers, family…some of whom you loved. Others who had people that loved them, did they see justice?"

Red's eyes filled with tears, "It was an accident! I had no control but I have control now!"

"But will you always have control?" he demanded, "That knowledge doesn't stop the fact there are people dead. That won't bring back anyone, will it?"

Red pressed against the corner as he shoved the gun in her face, "Easy, easy…."

"Werewolves can't be trusted. They lie. They promise they work for the side of the heroes and they can control it and what does it all amount to?" he sobbed, "Coming in to find your wife and child's blood all over the floor when you couldn't protect them."

Red put her good hand up, "I didn't have anything to do with your wife and child."

"No, but you had plenty of blood on your hands, don't you?" he demanded.

"And I've been trying to redeem myself ever since," she whispered and fought tears, "Please don't do this."

He almost hesitated, Red could see the hesitation in his eyes but he shook his head, "I'm so sorry Red. But I can't take that chance."

He lifted the shotgun, just as the door behind him practically exploded open. He turned, his shotgun aimed for the door. Red tensed when she saw Mina Harker come in with her gun pointed at him. She only relaxed when she saw Emma following with her own gun aimed at Thomas. Regina was the third behind them. She didn't carry a weapon; she didn't need to.

Regina's eyes fell on Red, she took in the blood that was all over the floor, "YOU BAST-."

"Ah ah," he took out his handgun and aimed it at Red's head, "You won't be fast enough."

Emma glanced at Red, "You okay?"

"I don't know," Red gasped, "I think I was poisoned."

Mina's face fell, "Dammit Thomas, what did you do?"

"I had to, Mina. We both know that."

"No I don't know that."

"You're siding with them?" he exclaimed angrily, "After what we've been through together?"

Mina didn't lower her gun, "I told you to stand down."

"I don't take orders from you."

"You do when it goes against why we're here," Mina snapped, "Drop your gun."

"And get skinned alive by that thing?" he nodded over to Regina.

Regina laughed, "When I'm done with you, you'll wish you got skinned alive."

"No," Mina snapped, "You're not interfering in this, Queenie, you're not getting anywhere near him."

"He's hurting Red."

"You interfere in this, and you're bloody next," she hissed.

"Hey," Emma whispered to the hunter, "Stop, calm down."

Regina scoffed, "I'm getting her out of here. And then I'm coming back. You won't like what I'll do when I get here."

Without a word, she waved her hand and Regina and Red disappeared in a puff of smoke. Thomas processed that he just lost his hostage. His eyes grew as he seemed to realize that he wasn't going to get out of this intact. He raised his gun towards Emma, "The Queen's going to betray you, you know."

"I may have agreed with you two months ago," Emma raised her gun to match his aim, "But she certainly hasn't yet."

"Give it time. When she can get what she wants without playing by rules, she'll take it, they always do," he looked towards Mina, "Where's Lizzie?"

"Thomas-."

"Where? Is she safe?"

"She's with the one they call Belle."

"The Dark One's girlfriend."

"Her house was on the way."

"Huh," he nodded, "Keep her safe, Mina. Value every moment you have, it might not be long before you two don't have the other."

He raised his gun higher, aiming for Emma's head. Mina immediately pulled the trigger of her own gun.

Thomas staggered back, a hole in his forehead. Emma watched astonished as he started to lift his gun, aiming for her, but he didn't make it very far. He stumbled to his knees and then fell face first on the ground.

Mina dropped her own gun, and staggered, moving to sit in the closest chair.

It took Emma a moment to process what happened. Mina chose her over a longtime hunting companion, "You saved my life…"

"It was the right thing to do," Mina couldn't look at her.

"Still….," Emma whispered, "Thank you."

Mina put her face in her hands, "He wanted to die. He knew he wouldn't get out of this and he wanted to die."

She crumbled into sobs. Emma knelt down and took her hand, she sat with her as she let her cry it out.

Mina Harker had saved her life. She could've chose her friend over Storybrooke and Red but she hadn't, she'd chosen them.

Any doubt Emma might've had after all the talk over monster hunters she'd heard all day, she wasn't going to listen to anymore. Mina Harker, as far as she was concerned, had proven herself.

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Regina had wanted to see Red in her true form months ago, but she never had. Red wouldn't let her. She had told her once that most that saw her wolf form ended up dead. It was a private thing for Red when she was a wolf. She wanted to run and explore without anyone seeing her

So even though Regina saved Red, she still felt like she was invading her privacy when she took her away and Red started changing.

Regina backed away, any thought of returning to take revenge on Thomas was immediately forgotten. Red was hurt, Red needed her.

"Easy," she whispered as the gorgeous magnificent wolf turned towards her with a growl. There was still a bullet hole in her fur. Regina needed to heal her.

"I'm here to help you," she whispered, she summoned Red's cloak and held it out to her, "You're hurt, Red. Let me help."

Red whimpered and stumbled. Regina quickly draped the cloak over her. The magic took place almost immediately. She pulled it back and brushed her girlfriend's hair back. Red was pale and shaking, her body might even be starting to shut down.

She waved her hand, "It's okay."

She healed her and wrapped the cloak tighter, "You're safe. I've got you, you're going to be okay."

"I'm cold."

Regina immediately took them to her house, to her room. She didn't expect anything, she just wanted her girlfriend healed.

"It's going to be fine," she promised her, "I'm going to get your grandmother in a bit, and we're going to take care of you…you'll be strong again in no time."

"I'm sorry," she whispered, "I should've fought."

"Don't worry about that," Regina kissed her forehead, "We can't always fight those that hurt us. We can't-."

Like she couldn't fight her mother.

Regina sat there staring in space for a moment and hse looked back down at her girlfriend, "Sometimes we just can't fight those that want to hurt us, and it's okay to need help."

Help that never came for her.

She stayed with Red until Red was asleep and hung her head and broke down.

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Emma didn't take the hunter home, she'd called her parents to tell them what happened and instead, took her to the edge of town with a six pack and a meal. Mina had thrown up when they left the inn, the guilt over what she'd done hadn't lessened. The least Emma could do was get her away from the responsibility she was going to have to face tomorrow.

"Here," Emma opened a beer and handed it to her. Mina accepted it and took a swing…just to make a sour face and spit it out in the dirt, "Bloody hell…"

"Yeah, it's an acquired taste," Emma took a sip of her own bottle.

Mina stared at her feet, "I'm sorry, Emma. I didn't know he was going to do that."

"I know you didn't."

Mina cursed, "He was a good hunter."

Who tried to kill her godmother, "I'm sure he was."

Mina sighed and ran a hand through her hair, "And this all starts again tomorrow."

"I don't think it'll even stop."

Mina was quiet, "Your parents aren't going to like that I killed him, are they?"

"I think they might make an exception…maybe…they're pretty strict on the 'no kill' policy most of the time though."

"Well I doubt my heart could darken any more than it already has."

"I wouldn't tempt THAT fate," Emma told her.

"There are things I'll need to tell you when the time comes," Mina whispered, "About what I've done."

"I don't have to hear it."

"Its better you hear it from me than hear it from Dracula or the one bride I haven't been able to kill yet."

Emma sighed, she was way too tired to deal with it tonight, "Then you'll tell me later, when we get to it."

Mina nodded and managed another drink, she tried to swallow it three times before it finally all went down.

"You coming home?" Emma asked, "We can swing by and pick up the baby when we're done here. Go home, get some sleep, start the day over tomorrow."

Mina bit her lip, "Rumpelstiltskin gave me an offer that I'm considering."

"I'm not sure those words ever did anyone any good," Emma told her.

"Yeah, I know, my father told me to never make deals with devils. But he told me I could have a room if he could see the journals that we recorded when Dracula was terrorizing me."

Emma tried to feign insult, "And what's so wrong with our cramped abode?"

"it's not easy to escape anywhere in that apartment when one is an insomniac."

Emma shrugged, "That's fair, I've been having the same problem. That and…hard to escape a crying baby."

"And I'm not sure Lizzie and your brother should feed off each other's crying at two in the morning."

"And I cuddled you and you can't take it," Emma tried to tease.

"Well you DID spoon," Mina admitted.

"I'm sorry, it's an old habit of mine. I'm sure there's plenty of therapists that say it's because I was lonely all my life and I wanted to reach out to someone."

"The spooning wasn't a problem," Mina told her, "I rather liked the contact. It reminded me I wasn't by myself, even if just for a little while."

Emma looked at her, "How do you feel now?"

"Now?" her voice caught, "Thomas is dead, and I'm more alone than ever."

Emma took her hand and squeezed it, "It may feel that way because you're in a world where you don't understand, but trust me. You're not alone anymore."

"When it's done, and Dracula's dead, then what though?" she asked.

"If Dracula's dead and we're all alive," Emma started, "You'll have a home here, I'll make sure of it."

"Not in your home, surely."

Emma gave a snort at the dark joke, "Don't worry, I don't think you have to worry about that!"

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If not for the circumstances surrounding it, Rumpelstiltskin would've really liked how Belle looked holding the five month baby in her arms. She had a maternal streak that he found himself attracted to. Baby Lizzie seemed to like her as well, after a bit of fussing, she'd settled down in Belle's arms, content to be spoiled.

"Do you ever think we should have our own?" Rumpelstiltskin asked.

"One day," Belle told him, "When the danger's done and I don't have to worry about whether or not our child will have both parents or one."

"That might never happen at this rate," he told her.

"I think it'll happen," she argued, "Just…maybe this part of our journey isn't over yet.

"Hmph," he muttered, he doubted it, it seemed like a long line that was never ending of those that were going to drive them insane.

He heard the doorbell ring and he immediately answered it. He took in the haggard hunter with red eyes and tilted his head. A crying hunter? He didn't know some of them had feelings!

"That deal about the room still open?" she asked.

"Indeed," he said.

"Here," she handed a pack of books towards him, delicately, as if she was scared the movement might make them crumble, "Just…b-be careful."

"Of course dearie," he softened his voice, "I know what it's like to have very few things of the person most important to me."

But unlike her, he'd gotten his most important people back.

"Make yourself at home," he told her, watching as the hunter came in and brightened when she saw her daughter. Huh. Hunters DID have feelings. Who knew?

Emma came in, right behind her. Rumpelstiltskin raised an eyebrow, "What's this?"

"My brother is a crier at night, I need sleep."

"This isn't an inn, dearie!"

"Well…the inn's currently a crime scene. Anyway, Mina and I have to go over things tomorrow and so I"d appreciate it if I could stay. I'd like to look over those journals too."

"You don't get to stay for free."

"Of course not," Emma told him, "Neal's bringing Henry over. He has bad nightmares; I'm not leaving him until they're gone. So, in payment for being able to stay over, you get more time with your grandson, is that a deal?"

He smirked, it was a start at least, "Deal."

And shut the door firmly.


	3. S04E03: A Day in the Life

Rumpelstiltskin had everything he thought he could ever need to feel safe right now. He had his son, he had his girlfriend, he had his estate, he had everything. He opened his home to Mina Harker to protect an asset and keep her baby safe. He didn't expect Emma Swan to just invite herself along.

But Emma brought Henry so he figured that was alright. And maybe if Emma Swan was under his roof with Bae then they'd work out their issues.

And then get together and be happily ever after while working out their issues.

And then she'd bring everyone under his roof and he'd have to hear her parents always telling each other how they'd find the other.

Ugh. He'd have to put them in the attic or something.

Rumpelstiltskin thought about that for a moment before turning his eyes on the journals that the hunter had given him. HE was trying to be careful, they were all that she had of her husband's, he genuinely didn't want to destroy them.

A happy relationship. Gods, those were rare. Though they were young yet, let the newness wear off, let the problems and the flaws stop being so endearing, perhaps things would've worn off in the long run.

Rumpelstiltskin struggled to stay awake as he read. For the lifelong war cry of a monster hunter, Jonathan Harker was probably the most boring man on the planet. If Rumpelstiltskin had dealt with him, he'd have probably forgotten about it immediately.

But he didn't deal with him, all this happened while they were cursed. The worlds moved on.

Rumpelstiltskin turned a page and found himself coming across Mina's maiden name - Mina Murray.

Murray.

He stopped and lowered the journal. No, it couldn't be.

HIs hands started shaking as he tried to justify it in his mind, it was the World Without Color, there were plenty of Murrays, it was a common enough name. Alexander Murray though….that might narrow things down.

But how many Murrays were linked to Dracula though? It'd been a fake name when Alexander took it, but it was still linked all the same.

Rumpelstiltskin stood up immediately and went towards the room where he put Mina and her daughter. He knew they were awake, Belle went to take Mina in some clothes earlier, Bae was in there getting a sketch of Dracula.

The door was slightly open, he pushed it a bit to find Mina standing there in a mirror examining herself while Belle tied the back of Mina's shirt for her.

"I'm not sure I like the skirts," Mina told her.

"Well, you are two inches taller than me, you're bound to be a little short."

"I'm more accustomed to skirts down to my ankles, I suppose."

"As was I until I found out how much better I looked in this world's fashion," she leaned forward, "Rumple REALLY likes it."

Mina looked horrified, Bae stopped sketching and looked like he wanted the nearest bathroom to throw up in.

"You don't have to wear the shoes either if you don't want."

Mina glanced over at the extremely high heels Belle was loaning for her, "Thank God."

"I think the same, I love those shoes. I was secretly relieved when you didn't want them."

"How can you walk?" Mina asked

"Practice."

"I think I'd prefer my boots."

Rumpelstiltskin knocked on the doorframe, they all turned. Belle's face brightened but stopped when she saw the look on his face, "Rumple?"

"Papa," Bae turned the sketch around to show him he was putting the finishing touches, "Mina says it's accurate. Is this the man you remember?"

He barely glanced at it and gave a nod, he turned to Mina, "what's your father's name?"

"I'm sorry?" Mina asked.

"Your father's name, what is it?"

Mina tensed, "Alexander."

"Murray?"

"Yes."

"German? Or….as close to German as you can get here? "

Mina tensed even more, "What's this all about?"

He was trying not to break down as the pieces started falling into place, "What happened to him?"

"What is this about?!" Mina asked more sharply, he saw in her eyes she was trying not to panic as well.

"Dracula did not pick your family by chance, Mina."

Mina put the pieces together as well, "My father?"

He nodded, his heart started racing, "He was a hunter before he met your mother, Mina."

00000000000000000000000000

Emma was up and dressed before Mina was awake, so was Henry. Another bad night, she imagined. She just hoped that his sizable room hopefully didn't make him feel too confined.

He didn't like closed spaces anymore.

"Red hasn't awakened yet," Snow told her as they all sat at Granny's for breakfast.

Emma looked up, "Has she improved?"

"No, but she hasn't gotten worse yet," Snow looked over, "Regina healed her as best she could but who knows what sort of poison they were working on."

"Mina said it was…generic. It was probably mixed in with a heavy sedative to make sure she didn't wake up from it."

"Well she hasn't."

"Mina says she'll be okay."

"What if that's what she wants us to believe?" Charming asked.

Emma looked up sharply, "Dad."

"We're just worried, is all," Snow told her, "I had hunters coming after me all the time."

"Hunters that looked….for people, she mostly hunts monsters. She's just here for Dracula and she'll probably move on," Emma shoved some eggs in her mouth, "Need I remind you that she shot her friend in the forehead to save Red?"

"People will say she did it because he was getting out of control."

"People can say what they want, they always do," Emma replied, "What's Regina saying?"

"A whole lot."

"Yeah, I'll bet," Emma muttered. She was the one that they all had to worry about.

"She wants Mina's head on a spike," Snow warned.

"Think she might get shot for her trouble if she tried that," Emma saw Henry coming out of the bathroom and kept her voice lowered so he couldn't hear, only to raise it when he came opt the table, "Hey, ready for school?"

"Yeah."

"Homework done, projects done, ready for PE?"

"Yeah."

"Don't forget our have therapy after school."

Henry stopped, "Mom!"

"Henry," Emma said sharply, "You missed your last two appointments, don't make me pull the stern mom card."

"Therapy isn't working."

"You're not letting it, you used to be close to Archie," Snow whispered

"That was before I died three times"

Everyone went quiet.

"If you're not at therapy, I'll come find you," Emma said. She immediately felt like crap when she did it. Was this the stuff Regina used to pull? Only difference was that Emma wasn't doing it to hide something. She was doing it because her son needed to talk to SOMEONE.

"Mom."

"Stern mom card," Emma stood up and put her hand on his shoulder, "Comes out when you leave me no choice."

00000000000000000000000000000

When Emma got to the hotel with her mom, she saw Granny in the hallway guarding everything with a crossbow. When she raised her eyebrow, Granny shrugged, "Just in case."

"Ah."

"I've dealt with more hunters than you have, Emma, I've got scars all over me I doubt you want to see," Granny told her, "And werewolf pelts get a nice price for the right buyer."

Emma shuddered at ALL of that, "Can I go in?"

"Of course."

Emma knocked a couple times and walked in. Red was still in the bed, looking paler than Emma had ever seen her. Her lips were white, her eyes had dark blue circles under them, and her hair was in tangles. If it wasn't for the barely descernable rise and fall of her chest, Emma might've thought she was already dead

Regina sat by her bedside, her back to the door.. She straightened when she heard the door open but didn't look back.

"She still the same?"

"Yes."

Emma started walking into the room, only to walk straight into a barrier spell, "REGINA!"

"That walking disease with you?"

"Don't call her that."

"Why shouldn't I? She was with him, she knew how he thought."

"And she put him down. He was going to shoot and she killed him, Regina," Why did Emma have to keep repeating that to EVERYONE?

"I want her to pay for what happened."

"She saved Red's life."

"And her friend was responsible for what happened. She knew this would happen and when I tried to step in, she threatened to kill me. Does that sound like trustworthy behavior?"

"She didn't want you mutilating his body, he was someone she was close with."

"You don't murder someone you're close with and be mentally healthy."

Emma gave her an angry look, "No, I suspect you'd know that."

Regina turned and stood, "Get out!"

Emma looked her up and down and then looked at Red. Red would be safe, Regina would make sure she'd be alright, "I'll come back later."

"Don't bother, go back to the little friend you love so much now. Face your newest little monster and when you're done, send the other little monster away."

Emma rolled her eyes, "She did the right thing for our side. If you weren't too busy hating her for something she wasn't responsible for, you'd see it."

She turned to leave when Regina spoke up, "One more thing."

"Yeah?"

"When you're over your hero worship that someone else in town has a career out of saving people, maybe you'll want to take a look in her eyes. There's nothing there. She's dead inside."

"I don't think that's true."

"You don't have life inside you if you have that much blood on your hands," Regina summoned herself a drink, "Like you said; I would know."

Emma just stared at her, "Let me know if there's a change."

And she left.

00000000000000000000000000000

There was a knock at the door, but Mina ignored it as she clenched her hands at the sink and stared at herself in the mirror.

All her adult life she wondered why Dracula had been so intent on ruining her life, why he'd targeted them so hard. She thought Jonathan had just went to the wrong castle while he was on business and Dracula came to finish the job once Jonathan escaped. But it wasn't. Dracula had been keeping an eye on them, hadn't it?

The Dark One could be lying. He was a trickster, everyone knew that.

But why would he invite them to his home under the guise of protection JUST to lie?

Someone knocked on the door again? She focused enough to hear Belle's voice. She had to pull herself together, she was being emotional and this wasn't the time.

Mina opened the door, Belle stepped back. Mina walked into the room and looked at Rumple, "My father was a lawyer."

"Not always."

"How would you know?"

"He saved his money to go to law school, he didn't always want to be a hunter, he wanted to help people in another way."

Mina looked over to Belle and then to Baelfire, her hands curled into fists, "Is he lying?"

"My father deals more in manipulations than outright lies," Baelfire said and only hesitated when Rumple closed his eyes tightly, "But he wouldn't do something like that, not if we're both here."

Mina glanced back at him, "How do you know him?"

"It's a long story," Rumpelstiltskin put his hand on her shoulder, "Perhaps we should sit down to talk."

He didn't expect Mina to argue, but hunters were an uncivilized lot who didn't always think.

But Mina nodded and went to sit at the table.

Rumpelstiltskin went to sit down, Belle took the cahir beteween them. Baelfire started to but hesitated, "I have to get copies of his likeness out."

"Yes, that's more important," Mina said seriously.

Rumpelstiltskin nodded once. Baelfire took the sketch and went to leave, giving Mina an apologetic look back

"I feel this will bring up unpleasant memories for both of us," Rumpelstiltskin told him, "But I imagine we both have answers the other has questions for."

"I'm not unfamiliar with unpleasant memories," Mina told him.

"We have that in common," Rumpelstiltskin glanced at the sleeping baby in the crib, to make sure she was alright.

Alexander's granddaughter.

"Shall we?" he asked as his voice broke a bit.

00000000000000000000000000000000000000

 **61 Years Ago**

Rumpelstiltskin usually found it not his business to interfere with the parental proceedings of parents as he knew he couldn't save every single child. He would help where he could, he would take unwanted children off someone's hands and find new homes for them if he was asked. better than letting them grow up like him but as the years passed, more and more children faced lives like him and not even his castle was big enough for all of them.

But he certainly kept an eye on the children in the village down the mountain from his home. He kept an eye on everyone. It was at the bottom off the mountain but he still counted it as his land. They were his responsibility. The people that came to see him and passed that way weren't always a good lot but they gave revenue to the village and the villagers were slightly richer than they were when other DO's decided to tax them just because they could.

So, when he went to town for his weekly supply of sweet buns and the baker's wife's sister told him she thought one of the widows might be mistreating her baby.

Rumpelstiltskin knew a bit about the depressions women had after they gave birth, he thought Milah might've had it when she first gave birth and then realized she'd married a coward.

So, he was going to try and be lenient when he came to the house, help her if he could. He didn't like taking babies away really. not unless it served his overall plan.

Or the child was in danger.

But when he came in and found the fire out on this cold day, when he heard the baby crying weakly and found the woman cuddled up on the bed surrounded by bottles, his guard went up.

"Laura, what have you done," he whispered and went to the crib.

"It's hard," she whispered, her words slurred, "Since Harold died, it's so hard."

He went to look in the crib. He was taken aback by the smell, the baby was covered in spit up and its own feces, the milk in the bottle had curdled some time ago. God knows how much longer it would last.

If it lasted at all.

"You wanted this baby," he hissed and waved his hand, cleaning it up, "You begged me for it."

"Harold wanted the baby, I had no choice."

"You always have a choice, I always give a choice to everyone here" he pulled the weak baby in his arms, "Shh shh. it's alright."

"What are you going to do to me?" she whispered.

He scoffed and clutched the dying baby in his arms, "I'm going to let you live in exchange for this baby. I won't make you sign anything. I know you're illiterate. The contract will be spoken."

"I'm sorry."

He ignored it, "The baby will remain with me until he's found a new home. He'll not be returned to you at all."

Rumpelstiltskin rubbed the boy's back and tried to sooth him.

"His name is Alexander."

Rumpelstiltskin ignored her and just carried the boy out the door.

He'd shut himself up in the castle and nurse the boy back to health. And when the time came, he'd give him to a family.

Maybe keep the child around a bit, just in case he got sick and weak again.

It didn't occur to Rumple until that night when the baby was curled up in the bed with him that he was holding on to the child because he desperately wanted any kind of company.

0000000000000000000000000000000

 **Present Day**

After dropping off Henry to school, Emma spent the rest of the morning with her parents and brother printing off enough images of Dracula to paint the town in them. Emma's next stop was the morgue.

"Sorry to pull you away from your work, Victor," Emma told him.

"No sheriff, I'm actually relieved. These examinations are needed, I'm sure, but I've seen far more of the townsfolk than I ever really wanted to see up close and I'm their doctor."

"Anything to protect against the next baddie, right?"

Whale shut the door behind them, "Though it feels like we're looking for a needle in a haystack."

"I just feel like I got to look at all angles."

"Is this an angle?" he nodded to the body under the blanket

"This is so someone else doesn't have to."

He nodded, "I guess it'd be hard to shoot your unraveling partner in the head and then come identify the body."

He pulled the sheet back. Emma cringed when she saw the hole in Thomas's head, she was secretly grateful Mina wasn't here.

"Yeah, that's Thomas…. not sure I ever knew what his last name was."

"Alright then, I have some forms I'll need you to fill out."

"Okay," Emma pulled the covers further back and sat there staring at the man's mangled body. like Mina, he was undernourished. And while Emma hadn't seen Mina's torso, she had seen Mina's broken fingers that didn't heal right and the scars on her hands, legs and neck.

If her torso was anything like this….

"The ribs were broken multiple times, they never healed right. I imagine his lung was punctured at least once but I didn't do an autopsy," Whale told her, "I just took x-rays out of curiosity. His back was bad too. One more bad hit…. he was on his last leg, Emma. HE had multiple broken bones in his life, multiple skull fractures. He's lucky to have lasted this long. He wouldn't have lasted much longer."

"So suicide by hunting partner?"

"Or he just went off the rails at the sight of a werewolf."

"He can't be more than 30," Emma whispered.

"They don't live very long," Neal said as he came in.

"Hey," Emma said in surprise, "What are you doing here?"

"I was putting up posters in the hospital, saw you coming into the hospital and thought someone got hurt."

Emma's belly clenched, she put the covers back over his head, "Are you going to be next in line to tell me how terrible hunters usually are? I don't want to hear it."

"No. I think they're incredibly brave, if not a little stupid," Victor said, "I had a few go after my brother once or twice. Luckily, I got the good ones and not the dark ones. Once they saw he was harmless, they left him alone and I patched them up and sent them away."

"Dark hunters?"

"Dark hunters hunt for profit or sadism, others hunt because they want to save people or life just kicked them so hard, they don't feel like they'll ever be normal," Neal put his hand on the dead man's shoulder, "Poor bastard."

"Did you ever meet any?"

"Plenty. Most hunted papa, sometimes they found their way into Neverland to try to fight Pan. Most didn't last long, but I know my dad had some working for him sometimes."

"My parents are even having a hard time trusting her."

"Understandable given how strangers usually go here."

"Yeah, I know."

"And a stranger that probably doesn't even think like them."

Emma sighed, "I trust her, but what if they're right and I'm wrong?"

He went to put his hand on hers, "She's not…like what Regina and the others are saying"

"How do you know?"

"I just…. it's complicated and I'm sure she'll tell you what's going on, but I have faith in your trust."

She smiled a bit, "Thanks Neal."

Victor brought up the papers, Emma started filling them out.

"Henry going to therapy today?"

"He better," Emma muttered.

"Want me to keep an eye on him to make sure he goes?"

"Yeah, that'd be great," she told him, "Last thing I want is for Regina to hear that he's not going."

"She's not in the best of moods."

"She never is," Emma signed her name.

"Wanna grab a working lunch?" Bae asked.

"That sounds good to me," she told him, "I'm starving."

"Didn't you eat a couple hours ago?"

Emma blushed, "Don't judge me."

"I wish I had your metabolism," he sighed.

000000000000000000000000

Granny checked in constantly and it was starting to drive Regina crazy. She tried to keep her snapping down to a minimum. Granny had a crossbow and she didn't like Regina. She endured Regina for Red's sake and not much else.

Regina dreaded it if Granny became an in-law.

Granny wasn't the only one. Snow kept finding excuses to come in; Like Red might need a blanket, or she brought food. She 'happened' to forget once that she saw Regina might need sleep and Regina might need a pillow.

But Regina didn't sleep. If Red stopped breathing, she needed to use her magic to try to find a way to revive her.

Finally, when there was no comfortable position to be had in the cursed chair, Regina just crawled in the bed "I hope you don't think I'm taking advantage of this. But there are parts of me that are numb from sitting for so long and I have GOT to lay down."

She pulled the covers over on both of them and wrapped her arms around Red.

"Remember that first night when we said we were just going to share a bed and not go into sex? And you started tempting me?" she whispered and brushed some of Red's hair back, "That plan didn't last long."

And after their first time, Regina didn't want anyone else. They felt right. When Regina didn't think she'd have her son again, Red was who she clung to, she was who Regina wanted to start a new life with….and they'd carried that over until her past came back to bite her.

"You've got to wake up," Regina begged, tearing up, "Your grandmother can't lose anyone else. I can't lose anyone else. Especially over something that wasn't your fault, please, you have to wake up."

She buried her face in Red's shoulder.

This wouldn't have happened if Dracula and the hunters hadn't come. The hunter punished Red for something she didn't do to his family. The vampire hunter would do the very same to Regina if she had the chance.

Regina would do well to make sure she struck first. She may have promised Emma that she wasn't there to kill anyone but Dracula but what happened if they defeated Dracula?

She should do something but not now.

She wanted to stay with her girlfriend.

00000000000000000000000000000000000000

 **57 Years Ago**

It was a good thing Rumpelstiltskin had come for the boy when he did because he was so weak that he might not have lasted longer. Rumpelstiltskin cared for the child. He hired a quivering wet nurse who jumped at every single noise in the castle to make the child strong until he could be weaned. He made sure the child was spotless, he gave the child medicine instead of magic in case there were consequences on the baby as far as magic was concerned. It could be unpredictable on the weak and children. He wasn't risking it.

But the thing the baby needed most was attention and love. And Rumpelstiltskin spent at least a month turning down deals so he could attend this child. He held him constantly, he let him sleep on his chest to hear his heartbeat, he tried to undo the damage on the baby's psyche that it's mother had left on it. he wanted the child to grow up safe and loved.

And slowly the child grew stronger.

Weeks passed to months, Alexander learned to crawl on a blanket the wet-nurse made before she left. His first word was 'wheel', he learned to toddle and then Rumpelstiltskin was chasing him everywhere. He was a curious child, into everything. Rumpelstiltskin was sure he'd climb over the wall if he was physically capable JUST to see what was on the other side.

Months passed to years. The boy started to observe everything around him, he asked curious questions. Where did the babies come from? Where did they go?

"They go to families that want them."

"Will they be happy?"

"Well I hope so."

The child rested his head on Rumple's knee while he spun, "Where's my family?"

Rumpelstiltskin stroked the boy's hair. Thiers was a complicated situation. He loved Alexander and he wanted to keep him. But ultimately, he knew that he couldn't. Too many things had to be done, he had an end goal. Something a child shouldn't be pulled into.

The Dark One had a fearsome reputation and he saw what it did to Bae. Alexander got days in the village where he got to play with the village children but Rumple knew it wouldn't be enough. He had to be around people, possibly kids his own age. Alexander knew that he was loved but he knew that he would be adopted. Rumpelstiltskin was his guardian, he was not his father.

"I'm going to get you a family," he promised.

"How come it takes longer for me?"

"Because you're more special than them. I want to make sure I trust the other family."

"Do you know who it might be?"

"Yes."

Alexander's eyes grew, "Who?"

"I don't want you to be disappointed in case it doesn't work out."

"WHO?!" Alexander grabbed his arm and went limp so Rumple's arm would be dragged down, "Who?who?who?who?"

Rumpelstiltskin's eyes grew as the weight nearly made him hit the wheel face first. He instead pulled the boy up and put him in his lap, holding him close, "They are a nice pair of people. they work for me. You've met me before. Samuel and Wilhelmina, remember them?"

Alexander shrugged and started playing with Rumple's vest button.

"Well, they're monster hunters. Some would call them Dark Hunters, but they're not bad. They just work for me is all."

"They hunt like boogeymen and things?"

"Yes, they do. They're heroes. They save people lives and make it to where kids don't have to fear bad things. I'm still considering them but if it works out, then maybe they'll be your new parents."

Alexander gave him wide eyes, "But who will take care of you?"

Rumpelstiltskin's eyes filled with tears, the boy was innocent. He didn't deserve to be near Rumple. He needed loving people who could protect him and prepare him for what the world was like. Rumple couldn't do all of that. Rumple had a feeling that when he did give the boy to his family, he would personally be devastated. The castle would be too quiet.

"Oh, I don't know," he rocked him a bit, "Maybe I'll take care of myself."

"That's silly," Alexander poked his nose.

"Is it now?" he asked and went to tickle the boy.

It wouldn't be long before the boy's squeal's and laughter were gone, Rumple wanted to enjoy it while it lasted.

00000000000000000000000000000000000

 **Present Day**

Emma knew immediately that Henry wouldn't go to therapy. He'd skipped his last few appointments, this wouldn't be any different. When he came out of school, Emma and Neal were both waiting for him.

"Oh no."

"Oh yes," Emma said and opened the door.

"You're taking me to therapy?"

"I wanted to buy you dessert to bribe you but last time I tried that, you slipped out the back of Granny's and tried to blow up a well," Neal told him.

"That was years ago, I know things now."

"One year ago," Neal muttered.

"Feels like years," Henry shuffled his feet, "I don't want to go."

"Why not?"

"We just talk in circles and we don't go anywhere."

"These things take time."

"It's been a two months!"

"Takes more time than that," Neal put the seat back so Henry could get in, "Books and books of psychology could be written about our family."

Henry looked at both of them, Emma knew the look he had when he was trying to figure out how to get out of something. He got the same look when he was trying to get out of washing dishes and eating broccoli too, "Henry."

"If you think that way about our family then maybe you two should go to therapy with me!"

Emma stopped, "What?"

Henry swallowed, "Otherwise, I'm not going."

"Kids don't tell their parents what they're going to do, buddy," Neal told him.

"We all need therapy," Henry said, "So we're all going or none of us are." ."

Emma narrowed her eyes. she could tell from the look in his eyes that he was hoping they'd be stubborn and refuse and he'd be off the hook.

But Emma was far too determined to try and help her son.

"Fine."

Henry's eyes grew, "What?"

Emma went around to the driver's side, "Get in, we're running late."

000000000000000000000000000

 **35 Years Ago**

Rumpelstiltskin saw Alexander at least once a year, sometimes more after he gave him to the Dark Hunters. It'd probably been the best match he'd ever made to a child with a family. They loved him, they doted on him, but he wasn't spoiled. He was trained, he was taught to defend himself and to take the offensive. He knew what was out there and he defended people that were ill equipped to.

And he was smart too, he liked reading and he liked learning. Not that Rumple liked bragging, but the boy was growing up well and Rumple was proud.

The boy was a naturally skilled hunter too, he took on monsters that no one dared take on without years and years of experience. Rumple kept all the letters Alexander wrote to him. He counted down until the days Alexander would visit coming to and from jobs.

He still never allowed him to call him 'papa."

Alexanders parents eventually passed on and then it was Alexander joining groups and running hunts. When he was alone or he was with a group that Rumpelstiltskin didn't know, Rumple kept tabs on the boy. Always. If Alexander got himself killed then Rumple wanted to be there if he could to hold his hand or to heal him.

And then Alexander came to him one day and he knew the boy might be in trouble at the look in his eyes.

"You look old," he teased the boy

"You always look old."

"At least you grew into your head, I was starting to worry," he gave a giggle and watched Alexander roll his eyes and give a chuckle himself, "It's a hunt, isn't it?"

Alexander nodded, "I'm going to another world, Rumple."

Rumpelstiltskin felt himself grow rigid, "Why?"

"There's a hunt there that I need to do. They came looking for me specifically because I've been killing a lot of vampires."

He didn't want him to go, but Alexander was 26 and he couldn't exactly lock a 26-year-old in the dungeon, could he? "Who is this vampire?"

"Dracula."

He felt himself go pale, "You can't. Not many that go there come back."

"I have a plan."

"What plan is that?"

"Ask you to go with me."

Rumpelstiltskin stared at him and then broke into laughter, "I suppose that is a good plan?"

"Would you do it? He's taken women, he turns them and then grows bored. There are 19 that I've been able to find, they've all been put down but we have to get to HIM."

"There are more than 19, I'm thinking."

"Then let's go stop it from happening to anyone else!"

Rumpelstiltskin stopped, he should refuse, he didn't like travelling to other worlds. Portals made him motion sick. He felt like he was falling from high up and they reminded him of Baelfire and his father. He instinctively shrank back. Alexander noted it, "You're not going?"

Rumpelstiltskin opened his mouth to refuse. But he'd heard about this Dracula, it was going to be a tough fight and so he needed to be there for Alexander.

"I have information on how he might be defeated," Rumpelstiltskin said, "Let me go get it'

00000000000000000000

It was over in a matter of seconds as soon as they went in. Dracula had been fast, so fast that any human man couldn't stop him if they didn't have help.

But Rumpelstiltskin had been there. The monster had broken three of Alexander's ribs before he was able to immobilize him and after that it was just a matter of beheading and hacking away until there was nothing left. He was supposed to be dead. They set fire and spread the ashes at a crossroad, just in case.

It was easy, this hunting business. Rumpelstiltskin should've gone into it years ago.

He healed Alexander, took him back to thier world and bought him a drink.

"It felt easy," Alexander said.

"Because you had your old man helping you out," Rumpelstiltskin teased and then frowned, "Could it have been hard?"

"I don't know."

"We did everything you always do."

"More even," Alexander whispered, "But it felt easy."

"Do you think it wasn't enough then?"

"I don't know," Alexander was pale, "They go down harder than that."

"But…perhaps it was magic?"

"Perhaps it was," Alexander was quiet for a while, "I should keep an eye on things over there."

Rumple felt his heart start to race. Surely he wasn't letting another son go was he? "You should?"

Alexander nodded and stared into his cup, "Maybe I'll…maybe I'll stop hunting for a while. They say the education there is better than the one here."

"Would you need money?"

"No, I have money. I might settle down. Change my name so hunters and enemies don't find me. Find…some other way to help people. And maybe I should wait, just in case he comes back."

Rumpelstiltskin reached out, thought better of it and pulled back, "Whatever you decide, Alexander…. know that I'm proud of you. I always have been and I always will be."

He stood and continued, "But don't face Dracula alone. If your feeling is true and he finds a way back, you need to get my help."

 **0000000000000000000000000000000**

 **Present Day**

Emma hadn't ever realized how loud Archie's clock was until they were all sitting together on the couch with their arms crossed. Archie sat in his chair staring at the floor as he waited. Emma sat on the right, Neal sat on the left, Henry sat between them. Emma was sure Regina would love this sight. They all sat there looking miserable.

"So…." Archie finally started, "How's the newest…villain hunt coming?"

Emma had been talking about it all day, she didn't want to talk about it here. Everyone had an opinion on Dracula and everyone certainly had an opinion on hunters and Mina Harker, "It's going."

"Oh."

The pounding of the clock was like a loud beating against Emma's head and so she started, "I gave in to Mr. Dark."

And then all of a sudden Emma wasn't hearing the clock anymore, it went so still.

"I saw things in the mirrors," Emma said and closed her eyes, "Things about me that I've never shared, things about everyone else that they've never shared. I saw what Regina did to Henry, I saw what Rumpelstiltskin and Pan did to Neal. I saw….I saw the way everyone suffered at the hands of people that hurt them. People that I let walk around here and yet I still have to interact with them and give them a chance because they're trying to be better people. But no matter what I do, I can't erase what I saw out of my mind."

"Is that why you…." Archie started.

"Gave in? No," Emma fought tears and tried to brush them away, "I thought he'd killed you, Henry."

"I wasn't dead."

"I know. But the mirror was truthful about everything else. And then it showed me you, it showed me your body in that coffin and I…I stopped caring about everything. Nothing mattered. Nothing…matters except you and your happiness."

"I saw him with you," Henry said, "You should've….they say you know if someone you love was dead. You're supposed to know, you always know."

"I'm sorry," Emma whispered.

Henry was shaking and crying, "I can't sleep at night. I can't be in closed spaces. I only…I only survived because somehow, I reached you. It was the third time I was about to die."

"I know."

"And then…and then all of a sudden I can't be around my other mom anymore without you being there. What did you see in those mirrors that's' so bad? You know she murdered people, you know- you know she ruined lives. But what changed? Why can't I see her?"

"Because….," Emma started and looked at Neal for something to say. She hadn't told anyone about Graham's rape. She knew Red knew of course. What was she supposed to tell Henry?

"Some things are unspeakable. Some things I can't wrap my mind around, Henry."

"You gave in," Henry sobbed, "If I hadn't reached you, the last thing I would've seen was you giving in fully to Mr. Dark because you thought I was dead and we would've lost. Everyone would've been taken by him. And I can't be near Regina anymore when she was trying to change. A-and I know you and dad got back together but now nothing's happening on that either and I can't sleep and I can't focus and I'm so tired of fighting."

Emma wrapped her arms around her son. She felt the tears pouring down her face, "I'm sorry, Henry. I thought I lost you. I didn't know what to do. I thought I was too late. I thought I took too long trying to get through the maze."

It was her fault he'd been taken, if only she hadn't taken so long in giving him the true love kiss.

And he'd been so scared and so traumatized that he lost faith in her as he saw her isolate him from Regina and then push Neal away for reasons he was too young to ever understand.

Emma saw Neal stand up, and hesitate. she nodded and he came to wrap his arms around both of them.

She'd put that out of her mind for now. she'd think about them as a couple when it didn't hurt so much.

But they got out some of their issues, this was the first step.

00000000000000000000000

 **29 Years Ago**

Rumpelstiltskin was trapped in his cage. So, they thought. But the truth was that he could go in and out whenever he chose. All it took was him freezing the guard, erasing his memory and the could go back home whenever he wished. He had to, his things were there, he had to make sure everything was continuing without him.

And sometimes he just really liked sleeping in a feather bed and having a bath. He was sure the guards might've appreciated it too.

He came at the end of a week, one week before the curse was supposed to strike. One of his spies had told him Alexander was coming. This was going to be the last time he might ever see the boy again, he wanted to personally say goodbye.

Rumpelstiltskin was beaming when he saw him. He was dressed in a suit far too uncomfortable for Rumpelstiltskin's liking (as was the world without color's culture) and he had gained a bit of weight but it was a healthy look for him. Rumpelstiltskin smiled, "You grew old."

"You were always old."

Rumpelstiltskin smiled again as he examined the wedding ring, "She still put up with you?"

Elizabeth Stoker had married him a year ago. She was the daughter of a Navy Admiral, so she was a practical woman. She also had a full brother from her birth parents, a half-brother from her father's second marriage and six stepbrothers who all didn't like Alexander interested in their sister. All of whom were in the navy. Rumpelstiltskin had gone in the guise of his old self before the curse when he came. He didn't want to frighten Alexander's new family when he was introduced as the man that put him out of an abusive household.

Alexander looked at his ring and smiled, "We're to have a baby."

Rumpelstiltskin grinned, he knew that much at least, he'd foreseen the bold curious girl, "Congratulations."

"I am a lawyer," he told Rumple proudly, "I've respect now. I have a wife and a baby on the way. I have everything I could need."

"Does she know?"

Alexander's smile faded and he looked down at his feet.

"Alexander, you must tell her what you used to do."

"I will!" he whispered, "But she doesn't even believe in God, how am I supposed to tell her that demons dwell in the dark?"

Rumpelstiltskin grew quiet. "She WILL find out eventually. Such things are hardly kept quiet for long. Better it comes from you."

"I know," Alexander said, "When I'm ready to face the man I was, I'll tell her."

He saw the shame in his son's eyes, the man that he used to be was ruthless on hunts. And ruthless dark hunters did things, unspeakable things to making sure their prey stayed dead.

Like what they did to Dracula

"I hear the curse is coming," Alexander whispered.

"It is."

Alexander finally looked up at him, "You've found him then? Baelfire?"

"I'm hoping I will."

Alexander nodded, "Good. Good, after all this time…"

"I'll have my son."

"One of them at least."

Rumpelstiltskin hesitated and then finally nodded, acknowledging Alexander as such, "I'm doing what's best for both of you. You don't want your wife to find out about what truly lies out there via a 28-year curse."

"No, I know. I just…wish this wasn't the end of it."

"Perhaps it won't be. Perhaps we'll see each other again."

"I'll be 60."

"Then you'll truly be old, won't you?"

Alexander let out a chuckle and went to hug the man, "I love you."

"I love you too," Rumpelstiltskin tightened his grip, "Don't make the mistakes I made. Be honest with your family, be brave, and love your daughter with everything."

"A girl?" Alexander pulled back.

"Was that supposed to be a surprise?"

"Perhaps!"

"Well now you know what sort of clothes to get her."

"I suppose. I also know what I'll name her as well."

"What's that?"

"Wilhelmina."

"After your mother," He refused to call anyone other than Alexander's adopted mom his mother, "Good choice."

"You don't think it's going out of fashion?"

"My name is Rumpelstiltskin."

Alexander furrowed his brow, "Perhaps 'Mina' for short."

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The silence could be cut with a knife as Rumpelstiltskin finished. He glanced at Belle, but she stared ahead. Mina was staring at him, Lizzie cooed a bit in her arms, but she kept her eyes on Rumple.

"That was the last time I saw him," Rumpelstiltskin finished.

"He was a hunter…from a family of dark hunters."

"Yes."

Her eyes teared up, her voice became thick, "He lied to us, all those years he knew what was in the dark and he never told us."

"Your mother wouldn't have believed him, and if she did, she'd never have slept again."

"This might not have happened!" she started to panic, "You want to know what happened? What his fate was? He went on a business trip when I was 16. He didn't come back. My uncles went up and down the railroad to find his body in case he was robbed and killed but they never found him. Some of my uncles and other said he abandoned us but we both know he never would."

"No, he wouldn't,"

"No, he wouldn't," Mina repeated angrily," And you, where were you?"

"Mina," Belle whispered.

"You could've done something!" she sobbed, "If Dracula was alive then, if he killed my father while he was on a business trip then you could've…. this didn't have to happen!"

"It didn't, I'm sorry," he whispered.

"If it weren't for this…this curse you manipulated," Mina stood up and went to leave, "You might've been there to bloody well help, no one had to die."

"Mina," Belle said a little more sharply, "He couldn't have known."

"Just leave me alone," she whispered and walked out.

Belle started to stand, Rumpelstiltskin grabbed her arm gently, "Belle. No. Let her be for a bit. Feeling a betrayal from your father is the worst possible feeling. We both know that very well."

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Rumpelstiltskin let her have a few moments, he had to make this right, he couldn't let her go wondering far with Dracula and at least one wife or servant on the loose.

He just found her sitting on the porch with her baby. He took two glasses of whiskey and went to sit outside next to her, "Thought you were cleared off."

"It's not wise to go far in a town I barely recognize at night," Mina looked down at her baby she'd let free on the blanket, "Especially with his wife in tow."

"Unwise indeed," he handed her the glass.

Mina stared at it, "I'm sorry I blamed you. You couldn't have known."

"If I foresaw it, I'd have brought him."

"Why didn't you bring him?" she asked, "Us?"

"This curse had no business with your family," he said, "I was tempted to but I couldn't put him through a double identity. I certainly couldn't do that to your mother, especially not when she was pregnant with you. I'd…I'd told him he wasn't my son, but that wasn't entirely true. I'd thought of him as a son figure when he grew up. And I couldn't put my son in a dark curse to find my other son."

"Do you regret it?" she asked after they sat there for a bit, "What you cast?"

"I regret how I did it, yes," he whispered, "I don't regret doing what I could to get my son back. You're a mother, I'm sure you'd understand doing anything it took if you were separated from your daughter."

She glanced back at her daughter, "Yes, I do."

"I think he wanted to protect you, that's why he lied. Sometimes knowing what's out there is more damaging than not knowing, he'd probably think."

"It just occurs to me that my father's life lessons helped me while I was hunting," Mina muttered, "Now I know why."

Rumpelstiltskin took a drink, "Well, he was your dad. And he was a flawed man. But he loved you more than anything, and he loved your mother. He tried to do right by you, and there's no way he could've known that the past would come back to bite him."

"It always does, though."

"I suppose that's right."

They sat in silence for a few more moments.

"I'm going to protect you," Rumpelstiltskin finally said, "I know you can look after yourself, you did it all these years, but Dracula isn't like the rest of them. We both know that."

"I know."

"Would you accept a Dark One's help then?"

Mina was tense but she nodded, "Yes."

Rumpelstiltskin summoned two more glasses, "For your father."

Mina took one and clinked it with him, "For papa."

He took a sip, "Right then, long day tomorrow and I'm going back inside."

"Think I'll stay out here for a bit more, it's a nice night."

"Well, the house and yard is protected in case any beasties want to pop up, so you're safe as long as you stay here."

"Like I said, not far to go."

"The night life is miniscule."

"I'm sure I've seen enough night life for several people over."

"Want me to take the baby?"

"Nah," Mina told him, "She's fine for now."

"As you wish," He put his hand on her shoulder on instinct.

She didn't flinch like she usually did when she was touched.

Belle was waiting for him when he got in, "Is she alright?"

"What?" He asked and nodded, "Yes, she'll be as fine as anyone could be, I suppose."

"She's got a bit of a temper."

"It's been made right for now."

"For now?"

"But not completely until Dracula's dead. But for tonight, she'll be fine."

Belle watched him, "And you? You okay?"

"No," Rumpelstiltskin started sobbing, "My son's dead."

Belle went to hug him, "oh Rumple."

He barely went to hug her back, "Dracula killed my son."

"It could've been anyone."

"No one would've taken the body like that and he'd moved on, he'd changed his name so this couldn't happen. It could've been another enemy but it wasn't, was it? It was him. I just know."

His son was killed.

He was going to fix this.

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The clock struck 8:15, Regina only knew it from her window being open and seeing the clock.

Red opened her eyes. Regina was resting there, with her head on the bed. She sensed something was different, so when she looked up and saw Red was looking at her, she sat up straighter, "SNOW! GRANNY!"

The door opened, Red's best friend and her grandmother came in.

"What…. happened?"

"You were shot," Regina told her, "But you're safe now, you're alright?"

"I…what?"

"But you're safe now," Regina told her confidently again, she wanted Red to know that "And it's all going to be alright."

"I'm tired," Red croaked.

Granny went to sit her up and put a cup under her lips* "Drink Red, and then you can get some more sleep."

She'd slept all day! But Regina just held her hand.

"The worst is over," Snow went to cover her back up, "Everything's going to be okay."

Regina scoffed.

Snow looked over, "It wasn't her fault this happened, Regina."

"You don't want her here anymore than I do."

"No, I don't want Dracula or his trouble here.," Snow walked past her, "There's a difference. Don't punish Mina because you can't punish her partner. It's not right."

"She'd hunt Red if it wasn't for Dracula."

"Would she?" Snow asked.

Regina was quiet, "She'd hunt ME"

"Well," Snow said, "Luckily for us, she's here for Dracula."

"And what about after him?"

"I hope you've proven yourself by then," Snow said, "If she's as dishonorable as you think she is."

"And do you think she is?"

"She saved Red when she didn't have to. I'm hoping she does have honor. One that doesn't have that is the last thing we need."

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Emma and Neal spent the day with Henry. They took him to eat at Luigi's and they all went to the arcade. They'd been so caught up in trying to help him that they forgot he was still a 13-year-old kid who sometimes wanted to be a kid.

So, they took the rest of the evening reminding him of that.

"Can we skip school and go fishing next time?"

"Yeah, nice try," Neal said and wrapped his arm around Henry's shoulder to turn to a headlock. For the first time since before this all happened, Henry smiled.

They came to the Gold house, Emma straightened a bit when she saw Mina sitting on the steps, staring out into space.

"Mom, she's smoking," Henry said

"Maybe you should go take your shower for the night," Emma said and ruffled her son's hair.

He passed by her, "Those will kill you, you know."

"Well something eventually will," Mina shrugged.

"Hi," Neal greeted her, "You okay?"

"No," Mina sighed.

"I'm sorry," he squeezed her shoulder, only pulling back when she tensed. He glanced back at Emma, then he went inside with his son.

"Henry was right, those things will kill ya," Emma told her and went to sit next to her.

"I've died two and a half times. It's not as scary as one might think to die three and a half, I think."

"How do you die half a time?"

"Were-Rams "

"Oh," Emma leaned back a bit, "Yeah that sounds like something you'd only want to admit half a death on."

"They're not the most dignified killers."

They sat in silence.

"The baby?"

"With Belle," Mina glanced over, "I think she likes her more than she likes me."

"Belle has a way with children. You should see her with my brother."

"So," Mina asked almost bitterly, "How was your day?"

"Oh just perfect," Emma said cynically, "I found out today my son's claustrophobic more than I thought, his nightmares are worse than I imagined, he knew I hooked up with his dad and my attempts to keep him safe made things worse. You?"

"Couldn't be better," Mina put out the cigarette and threw it to the side, "I found out my father tried to kill Dracula and that's why he may have killed my father and ruined my bloody life."

"Just a day in the life," Emma brushed some of her hair blonde hair back, "Whale's done with the examinations. He texted me earlier."

"What?"

"He TOLD me earlier," Emma corrected herself, of course Mina wouldn't know what a cell phone was.

"Nothing?"

"No."

"He hasn't made it public yet, has he?"

"No, he agreed to keep quiet."

"Good, Alina's definitely taking blood from the hospital then," Mina pulled out her gun and checked it, "Just like we thought."

"We better get down to the hospital since its night. She might need a new supply run. "

Mina stood and pulled out her shotgun from behind a column, "After you."


	4. S04E04 - The First Wife

Alina had been with Dracula through everything. She was the first wife. She was the one that he fell in love with. She was the one that nursed him back to health every time this enemies thought he might be dead. He gave her a better life. So she endured his fancies; he turned other women before he lost interest. It was her job to endure them after he got bored.

He never got bored with _her._ He couldn't afford to. Who would care for him if he put her aside?

It was a far better deal than when she was a person barely scraping together the miserable existence her older age and sex provided her.

How could one truly live in seven decades? How could they see everything there was to see?

She was ascended. She had a gift.

So, when Mina Harker got her friends together to ruin their lives and nearly put Dracula in the ground for good, she had to say that she didn't understand that woman's thinking. They'd tried to make her better and that was the thanks they got?

Eight years he'd been trying to reassemble himself. To be as strong as he used to be. To get revenge when it finally presented itself.

And with Mina Harker here, it had. They hadn't even meant for her to find them here but here she was. It was all coming together in a way that Alina could rightfully believe was fate.

She smirked as she went to the hospital. It was all coming together.

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Mina had been quiet since she and Emma met. A bit snarky and temperamental when cornered and definitely emotional. But when push came to shove now that they might have a lead on Dracula's wife, she'd snapped into a different mode. She was tense, there was no emotion in her eyes, and all her muscles were coiled, like she was ready to spring at a moment's notice.

"Here," Mina gave her something wrapped up in a cloth, "Rub that in your clothes and skin."

Emma could smell it before she unwrapped it. She knew she shouldn't breathe deeply. This wasn't going to end well, she KNEW it wasn't going to end well as she took out some sort of plant, "Whoa."

"Don't breathe in too much."

"What IS that?"

"It hides our scent. If she comes to the hospital, she's going to smell us. Not even the appalling hospital smell can hide it," Mina told her as she loaded up her sawed off shotgun.

"Smells like livestock."

"Better than smelling like us," Mina grabbed some and started rubbing it on her clothes.

"I'm starting to understand why Gold keeps making it sound like you hunters never bathe."

Mina just looked up, "Can you shoot a gun?"

"Of course."

"Ever shoot someone?"

Emma shook her head, "Probably one of the few traumas I've never been through. But I know how to aim and pull a trigger."

"Alina's almost as deadly as Dracula," Mina told her, "And just as cunning. I tried doing research on how old she was and from what I can tell, she's at least a couple of millennia old. As a vampire ages, they get stronger and harder to kill. Which means she's fast and strong. She'll break your neck as soon as she enters a room, you have to be ready to pull the trigger as soon as she walks in."

"And this won't kill her?"

"She's too old for a bullet to the chest but I haven't met a creature yet that shakes off a bunch of rock salt to the chest."

Emma shuddered. She'd had a foster brother that went swimming in a neighbor's pool. He'd been an idiot. He thought somehow the neighbors that slept with their windows open somehow wouldn't notice him taking a dip.

So the neighbor responded by shooting at his intruder. With rock salt.

Huge welts to the ass shouldn't have been near as funny as it actually was.

"So how resistant is she against magic?" Emma asked.

"If you can catch her?" Mina shrugged, "Probably as resistant as she would be to rock salt. How good are you with your magic?"

"Eh, learning?"

Mina didn't betray any emotion, "Oh."

"Cool," Emma muttered and made a face, "Does this wash out of my clothes?"

"No"

"Damn." And now she was worried it woudln't wash out of HER.

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Mina seemed perfectly content to sit there in the blood bank armed to the teeth with knives and guns. Emma sat there feeling a little underdressed with a gun, a little bit of knowledge in magic and her snarking wit.

But she couldn't stand the silence they both sat in as Mina cradled the sawed off shotgun in her lap and bounded one knee up and down, "Henry's in therapy."

A few moments of silence passed. Mina realized she was supposed to say something, "Oh?" 

"Oh…..I mean…what do you think?"

"I think she's going to hear our voices if she comes tonight."

"Mina," Emma said sharply.

Mina was quiet, "Given your love for your son, I'm going to imagine your world's therapy is very different from the one I was faced with when I was in my world."

"Yeah, I watched movies."

"I don't know what those are."

"It's the things we all sat to watch a couple nights ago. You remember? When Henry was quoting alongside the movie."

"Oh," her knee started racing in place again.

"Hey, stop. You're making me antsy."

"Shh!" Mina tensed, "You hear that?"

"No?" Emma listened again, "What, Whale?"

Mina went to go turn off the light, "Why would anyone need to be on this side of the hospital? You'd be called if there was an accident, right?"

If it was a crime yes. Or if someone got hurt and Leroy got wind of it, yes.

So if there was no reason for Whale to be over on this side of the hospital, why was he on this side of the hospital?

The door opened, Emma moved to hide as the light filled the room and two figures stepped in. She recognized Whale immediately but she didn't know the older elegant blonde woman with him.

"Like I said, we're running low on blood but I don't know if anyone's going to start donating without them being clued in that your'e getting supplies from u- why are the lights off?"

Mina came out from behind the door, she took aim at the vampire in front of her and fired. The sound was deafening, Emma instinctively put her hands over her ears as the sound exploded in the small room.

Whale started panicking.

Mina turned, hooked her arm under Whale's arm and yanked him outside the room. The door slamming was probably loud but it wasn't like Emma could currently hear at the moment.

What the hell! She fired a gun in a hospital! She didn't think Mina would actually DO that!

The vampire looked up from her face plant on the floor. Her back was ripped to shreds from the rock salt being in close proximity. Confusion filled her eyes before she met Emma's. Emma could almost feel sympathy for this woman. Why shouldn't she? Mina shoot her in a hospital! Even if it was rock salt in a room that no one else but them was in!

It was really hard for Emma to imagine this woman to be as cunning as Mina said.

And then when their eyes met, a feral hate filled the woman's eyes. Her face twisted into something evil as Mina put the muzzle of her shotgun against Alina's skull. Her finger closed on the trigger.

Alina was fast, she shot up towards Emma at an inhuman speed. Mina's gun fired, but missed. Alina turned only to backhand her. Mina slammed hard into the floor.

Alina turned towards the savior and lunged. Emma stumbled in shock as she wasn't expecting the vampire to be THAT fast. The vampire slammed her hands into Emma's chest, sending her flying into the door that held the blood.

Glass shattered. She cut herself.

The rage melted away from Alina's face as she realized at the same. Something animalistic filled her eyes.

Mina sat up, eyes wide. She barely took time to calculate what was going on before she ripped a knife from a sheath on her thigh. She cut her hand deep, blood gushed out, far more than what Emma had.

Alina's animal instincts turned even more towards Mina. It wasn't like she was thinking anymore. Any logic was gone, she didn't consider this might be a trap. She smelled more blood and she went for it.

Mina lifted her shotgun and fired one more time. The bullets hit her full on the chest and she slammed backwards on the floor.

Mina stood over her, joined by Emma.

"Did you just calculate that she'd run to you in a straight line from where she was standing?"

"Yeah."

"What if she zigzagged?"

"Animals don't think about that when they're hungry," Mina said and glared down at the bitch that helped ruin her life.

And hit her with the butt of the rifle hard enough to knock her out.

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Things were too quiet, that should have been Rumple's first clue as he locked himself in the bedroom with Belle for some adult private time. It was surprising how hard that suddenly was with two young women, Henry and a baby living with them in their house.

Almost as intrusive as if they were working in the pawnshop.

"This bed is small," Belle muttered as they lay next to the other.

"Well, I was alone for 28 years," he nudged her with his good foot, "And it might not be so small if you didn't sprawl everywhere."

"I do not!" 

"I barely have room!" he teased and kissed her.

Belle giggled and turned on her side to stare at an empty spot against the wall.

He turned to spoon behind her, kissing her shoulder, "What are you thinking about?"

"I think a crib could go there."

"Not sure Mina would be okay with the baby being here," He kissed her neck.

"Not her baby."

He stopped, "Snow and Charmings?" 

Belle scoffed, "Rumple…"

Rumple drew back a little bit and rolled on his back, he stared at the ceiling and counted the cracks.

Belle turned over and faced him, "Talk to me."

He wanted to shut her out, so badly and live in the little rooms of his own loneliness. He would rather isolate himself than show weakness mostly. But this was Belle and he was trying so very hard to be the man she deserved.

"I…was dead…for almost a year," he told her, "After I killed my father. I was brought back to life by the Dark One's creator which I also considered a twisted version of my father….which I also helped kill. I've separated…countless families; one of those being Emma from hers and my own son which was my own fault. I just BARELY saved Snow and Charming's son from that carousel….but that's not near enough for what I've done. My history, the things going on in town always happening…."

"We can't put it off forever, there may always be things happening."

"I just thought….cloaking the town might stop all this. How did they get in? How do they keep getting in?" 

Mina had gotten through on a portal with her baby and Thomas. But how did Dracula get in? How had he slipped through their nets and hide for so long?

Belle stroked his face, "I want us to seriously consider where we need to be in our relationship to start thinking about having a baby. We've been through so much, I don't want to consider waiting anymore."

Rumple knew he was probably nowhere near that and probably wouldn't be for some time. But how could he refuse Belle? How could he put it off knowing they might not see tomorrow? Nothing was guaranteed.

Plenty of reason not to start a family, no matter how much he wanted to.

But nothing was guaranteed for anyone, that never stopped them. It never stopped the Charmings and they'd gone through absolute hell.

So had Belle, why should he deny her a child she wanted with her true love?

Because he was scared, because he didn't feel he was ready.

Because he didn't feel worthy to be the father of another baby, much less someone as wonderful and patient as Belle was.

After what he'd put her through…

After what Regina put her through….

But this was what she wanted.

"Okay," he whispered, "But this may take time before…before I"m ready."

Belle nodded, "Okay."

He rested his forehead against hers.

Someone knocked on the door.

Rumplestiltskin cursed, "What?!"

"Grandpa!" it was Henry, "Mom and Mina went off somewhere."

"Okay?!" Rumple didn't see why that was his problem

"Their weapons are missing!"

Rumple threw off the covers, "Are you kidding me?!"

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Regina had been dozing with her arm wrapped around Red when she got the phone call. At first she was tempted to ignore it. Let whatever was going on go on without her. Red had just awakened, she needed to be here to make sure the worst was over.

It had to be, right? Color was returning to her cheeks, her breathing and heartbeat was much stronger. Red would be alright.

When the phone stopped, she turned over to go back to sleep.

The phone started ringing again. Regina cursed and answered it, "What?!"

"What?" Red asked and rubbed her eyes

" _It's Emma,"_ She heard the frantic voice on the other end.

"What?" she demanded again, "Did you remember I existed?"

 _"We got the wife."_

Regina sat up, "What?"

 _"I need to you to meet us at the sheriff's department to get Henry."_

"What are you talking about?" Regina demanded. If there was the wife in custody, she wasn't going to talk, Regina wanted to be around to make it happen. She was specialized in torture!

 _"I want someone with Henry in case something happens."_

"I should be there." 

_"I have Mina."_

Regina felt a twinge of jealousy, "She's not magical." 

_"She has experience. And Rumple's going to be here, he has experience too. That's why I need you to be with Henry and my parents. In case something goes wrong, I want someone there that can protect them."_

"What makes you think something might go wrong."

 _"Something ALWAYS goes wrong!"_

Regina huffed and looked at her sleeping girlfriend, "Fine. But they're not coming to my house, I'll take them all to the inn."

She didn't want to wake Red, or scare her if she moved her to the house without Red's consent. Best they all stay in the inn.

 _"As long as it's safe."_

"Granny's here," Regina muttered, "If I can't save them, she'll either fire a crossbow or throw frozen lasagna. I think they'll be safe."

000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

 **11 Years Ago**

Receptionist work for a bail bondsman wasn't so bad. Emma had to learn how to work a computer, and learn receptionist duties. She had to deal with creepy stupid people who were trying to see down her shirt, but that was nothing new. At least no one could grab her like they did in the diner.

"Emma!"

Emma turned and saw her boss standing there with Max, a bounty hunter, "Yeah?" 

"How'd you like to go work with a bounty hunter?" 

Emma blinked, "But I don't have my license."

"It's fine, we got a lady bail jumper. Max will be with you." 

"But-…" What was going on? She was so lost right now, "My own job!"

"Josh can do it. You're needed for this one," her boss glanced over to Max, "This will be a teaching experience. You want to be a bailbondsman…person….whatever someday, this is a good way to not have to pay out of house. No offense, Max."

"None taken."

"Yeah but why me?"

"Because Lucy Evans put out for a date. And she's not dating men anymore."

Emma blinked, "Oh."

Max stopped, "Are you…comfortable with that?"

Emma was hesitant. She had hooked up with women before, when she was experimenting…or they were more appealing than the men in the bar. She wasn't even sure if she liked it or not, but sometimes she needed a touch that a man just didn't know how to provide.

Not that her bosses knew that.

"Yeah," she said reluctantly, "I'm comfortable. When do we go?"

0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

 **Present Day**

"You went against a powerful vampire by yourselves and you didn't tell us?!" Charming demanded.

"I'm the sheriff," Emma defended, but somehow felt like she was a teenager explaining why she was out so late. She could see it his way. She felt the same way whenever Henry would go off to find danger. But this was different, she was an adult, and the savior, and the sheriff. What did her parents think they were going to do?

"And I'm the deputy!"

"With a baby son."

Charming looked to Snow, who was holding Robert; her baby brother. They wanted to name him something significant but Rumplestiltskin was out of the question. Rumple had refused. That child would live a life of misspelled names and getting beaten up on the playground. He didn't CARE they wanted to name him that because he saved the baby from Mr. Dark.

So they named him Robert. Because they felt that was the closest normal name they might have to match up his name. He accepted that, at least the child could spell THAT name.

"This isn't like the rest," Emma said, "She's old, and she's dangerous. She nearly overpowered us. I couldn't…I'm not putting you two in danger. Not after everything that's happened."

"Emma-," Snow started.

"No, they ripped Mina's family apart. I can't- I won't be in the same place if I can help it. I don't want her to even SEE you, much less have you be close enough for her to know what you sound or smell like. It's not happening."

There had been too many close calls.

"You two can't do this by yourselves."

"We can't. that's why we have Rumple."

"That's not always reassuring," Charming muttered, "You realize both want revenge against this woman, right?"

"Yeah, I know."

"And?"

"I can handle both of them in my sleep."

"One has guns and one has magic."

"Luckily for me, I have both."

Charming sighed and ran his hands through his hair, "We're not going to be far."

"Yeah, I figured that."

Charming went to walk off and cool down. Her mother bounced the baby in her arms, "We just don't you to shut us out."

"I know."

"We lost you twice, we're scared to lose you again to all this."

"I know," Emma whispered.

"Just a heads up would have been nice." 

"We were working on a limited window," she shuffled, "I'm sorry."

"It's okay. Just remember we worry about you."

Emma went to wrap her arms around her mom, "Regina's going to take you all to the inn, keep you all safe."

"Okay."

"He murders families, he rips them apart," Emma told her, "I don't want us to go through the same thing. I can't lose you either."

"You won't."

Emma looked over to Mina. She was on her own with Rumple. She was holding her baby in her arms, with her lips resting against her baby's temple. Her eyes were closed, she was soaking in the moment she had with her daughter.

Mina was just barely putting her life together. It might all come undone.

Emma didn't want to ever face what Mina had in losing her loved ones. Not again.

0000000000000000000000000000

Mina knew the lecture was coming. She knew whatever waited for her inside was going to be hell. So she wasn't exactly looking forward to walking in and playing Alina's head games.

But Rumple was calm, "I told you I'd protect you."

"I remember."

"I can't do that if you run off and I have no idea where you are."

Mina felt a twinge of guilt. She wasn't sure she fully trusted Rumpelstiltskin. She knew of his dark past, and she was still trying to let the fact her dad knew of Dracula sink in.

But he'd offered to protect her, and Mina knew she needed a powerful ally in this nightmare.

And She wanted a link to her dad. Someone who knew about this other side that supposedly existed; his other life he grew up in.

"Please," Rumpelstiltskin whispered, "Don't do something that risky again. If anyone knows better, it's you and me."

"Okay."

"Okay."

Mina hugged her baby closer, "You'll keep her safe?"

Belle nodded.

"I'm sorry, it feels like you keep getting shoved to babysitting duty."

"It's okay," Belle took Lizzie and smiled, "Just see it as practicing."

Rumplestiltskin sighed a bit. Mina looked over to him and raised an eyebrow. What was the story there?

"Lets go," Rumple sighed and put a hand on her shoulder. 

Mina closed her eyes tightly and turned towards the police station, "Okay."

0000000000000000000000000000000000000000

The woman in the interrogation room had been giving one of Snow's old shirts to wear in place of her old one that Mina had basically ruined by shooting her in the hospital. Twice.

Emma stood there next to Mina as they watched in the two way mirror. Mina had her arms crossed over her chest in a defensive gesture. She was trying to keep her face emotionless but Emma saw something in her eyes. There was grief there, and anger. Emma had seen it in people looking at their attackers again. Some sort of wildness and fear that were combined

"I keep telling myself she'd be me if no one was there to save me," Mina muttered, "Then I remember the things she's done and there's no way to justify it."

Emma put her hand on her friend's elbow, "Hey. We got her, it's gonna be okay."

"Don't look her in the eyes for too long," Mina told her, "She has a hypnotizing presence. That's why your doctor friend was helping her."

"Okay," Emma took her files to look official and went into the room The woman looked up. Emma tried not to look in her eyes but she couldn't help but notice something was otherworldly about the prisoner. Some sort of cool detached presence like she was above it all and this was nothing more than a _bother that she was even here in the first place._

"My name is Sheriff Swan, but I imagine you already know that," Emma sat down and opened the files, "Can you tell me where Dracula is?"

"I will only speak to Wilhelmina Harker."

"That's not a smart thing. She shot you twice. I don't think it's a good idea she try to make it a third…fourth..fifth, maybe sixth attempt."

"I will only speak to her."

"She's not authorized."

"Then I will not speak to you about Dracula's whereabouts."

"Hm," Emma watched her, "Mina told me some about you. You're one of the oldest wives, right? Hm, must be hard to be replaced every time someone younger and prettier comes into the picture."

"Mina wasn't chosen because she was younger and prettier. Neither were the others."

"I'm sorry?" 

"They were the daughters of hunters."

"Were you?" 

"Yes," she smirked, "I'm not going to defend the action but my father was a bastard, so lets leave it at that."

"Doesn't sound like your choice of marriage material sounds that great either."

"He saved me. I"m ascended."

"Others wouldn't think so."

The woman let out a creepy smile, "Others didn't take enough time to see what a gift it is. I've never known pain, or illness. Death will never touch me. I've seen many worlds. Seen many kingdoms rise and fall. I've forgotten more than you will _ever_ learn in your very limited lifetime."

"You helped rip women apart from their homes and their families. It was done to you. That's not a gift."

"Only because your world has such a very limited view on what we actually are. We are not evil. But if you continue to shield Mina from justice, I will make sure you know how determined we can be."

"See, that probably doesn't give me a lot of hope you're not evil."

"I don't have to explain myself to you. You and the people here are nothing more than ants scattering around trying to live your daily lives and avoid the shoe of something bigger and better coming down on you."

"That won't happen this time."

"Won't it?" 

"I'm the savior. Whatever you both did to Mina Harker and countless others, it will be different this time."

"Then why should I tell you anything?" 

"Because it will be easier for you."

"I think if you ask Mina, we're far beyond making," the woman gave her a chilling gaze of rage, "She's responsible for a whole slew of crimes herself, are you aware?"

"I'm aware," Emma lied.

"No you're not. If you knew the things she did, you wouldn't help her." 

"And what has she done."

"Ask her." 

"I'm asking you."

"Ask her about the children she murdered," Alina hissed, "My children, she murdered them and you want to come in here and tell me I'm the monster because I took something better for myself. We came here so he could heal. She's the one that chased us. She's the one that wants to kill a god."

"He's not a god."

"He's a god."

"Are you a goddess?"

"Don't be silly," Alina leaned forward, "You have…no idea what exactly you're dealing with, do you? How powerful this all is. That's alright. I suppose Mina doesn't really know either." "

"Are you going to tell me where Dracula is? Yes? Or no?" 

"No. I'll not let you near him to harm him or kill him." 

"Fine. We'll see if a few more days in the cell will change your mind."

"You can't keep me here," Alina snapped.

"Well either you tell me where he is or I keep you here."

"You really don't want to get in the middle of what fight we have with the Harker girl."

"Actually yeah, I think I do," Emma stood up, "Whoever did what, and why you're actually here….I'll figure it out. And you're not going to hurt anyone again."

She left the room. Rumplestiltskin waved his hand behind her, blocking the door to keep Alina from leaving.

Mina glared over, "Did you REALLY offer to make things easier for her?"

"I have to find Dracula," Emma hadn't even meant to say it, but they couldn't find him and she was getting desperate to do what it took to get this guy off the street.

"She doesn't deserve anything easier," Mina said with leveled rage.

"Yeah, you wanna talk to me about that?" Emma asked, "Or about what she was saying you were guilty of."

"I'm pretty sure I was trying to talk to you about that around the time I killed Thomas but you brushed me off."

"Well I need to know and I need to know from YOU before I find out the whole story from her."

"Anything Mina's done is pointless," Rumple said, "This is Alina's game; She's drawing a wedge between everyone."

"Actually, I"m curious as to what all is going on, she hinted at something bigger and I want to know what."

"It's irrelevant," Rumplestiltskin said through clenched teeth, "We just need to find Dracula."

"And if we find him and kill him? What happens if this is somehow bigger and it brings something bigger down on our head? Mina, do you remember anything in your research that might tell us what all she's talking about? Or is what she's saying BS?"

When Mina didn't answer, she turned to see Mina wasn't there.

She was walking inside the interrogation room. Emma cursed and went for the door. She tried it and shoved but the door wasn't moving.

"DAMMIT MINA!" She screamed and went to look at the window. Mina had shoved a chair under the doorknob.

Both women sized each other up, sat there looking at each other for several moments.

"You look older," was all Alina said.

"You have one chance," Mina hissed, "One. To tell me where he is."

"You think that will scare me?"

"I don't care what scares you," Mina loaded the gun.

"They won't let you hurt me."

"I don't care what they'll let, I"m not here to be liked."

Alina watched her, "You cost us so much because you wouldn't accept what we recieved as a gift."

"What he did to us wasn't a gift, it was terrible and traumatizing. Innocent poeple were killed."

"If they were guilty, would that be less traumatic for you? Were the 12 children you killed guilt-."

Mina grabbed Alina's hair and slammed her face first against the table.

"Hey!" Emma hissed and went to try and make the chair disappear.

"Let her get her revenge."

"She's assaulting someone." 

"Alina helped murder her father!" Rumplestiltskin gave Emma a look that said she might have a fight on her hands, "MY SON!"

"I can't let this happen."

A low inhuman growl stopped them from arguing. Alina had looked up, blood dripping from her nose.

Then she lunged. The chains that held her to the table snapped as she threw the table so hard that the wall cracked. Alina went for Mina. Mina yanked out a knife she had hidden on her and swung. Alina stumbled only for a second before she lifted Mina up and slammed her into a wall.

Mina unloaded the gun, Alina stumbled only temporarily…and then went to backhand Mina. Mina blocked it with her forearm. Emma winced as the crack surely meant SOMEONE hurt themselves. Mina gave nothing away. But she was the one hurt, she had to be

Alina grabbed her shirt and slammed her hard against the wall.

Her fangs descended.

"Enough of this," Rumplestiltskin whispered and waved his hand. The glass to the mirror exploded inward, knocking both Mina and Alina over.

Emma was shaking with rage, "Get her out. NOW"

0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

 **11 Years Ago**

Max had a grunge look going for him every time Emma met him. Like he didn't seem to realize that bathing was something you did more than every few days and hair should be brushed and washed more than every two weeks.

So somehow the fact he dressed her up to look as beautiful as she was was astounding to Emma. He gave her a black dress, smokey eyes and red lipstick. He refused to let her wear her fake lashes ("You can sweet a floor with those things!) and bought her her first pair of expensive heels.

"I'll be outside the restaurant if you need anything. If she tries to flee, there will be a boot on her car and I'll apprehend her."

"What if she tries to fight?" 

"Then that's assault, and I"ll apprehend her."

"What if she has weapons?"

"Then that's murder and I'll apprehend her," he smirked, "She won't have weapons. She's a vegan, Emma. She marches at PETA rallies. You wouldn't be here if it was dangerous."

"People do dangerous things when they're cornered."

"Yeah, I know."

That'd been everything they'd said to each other before she went to meet the woman at the restaurant.

The woman was her age; dark skinned with long dreadlocked hair. She was wearing a green flowing dress that seemed way more comfortable than the torture rack that Emma was wearing.

"Laura?" she used the woman's alias.

Laura looked up and her face brightened, "Emma, I was starting to think you wouldn't come."

"Yeah, I was running late, my car broke down." Stupid junk car was as greasy as Max was.

"I was sort of worried. most that answer are…"

"Men?"

"Yeah," the woman laughed and took a drink of her water, "So tell me about yourself."

"Well, I"m 20…um…Scorpio, if that's something you look at."

"Oh, Resourceful, brave, passionate, stubborn, thats always a good sign for a strong person."

"Yeah? I never paid attention to it myself."

"Then why did you bring it up?" 

"Because your file said you were."

"I'm sorry?"

Emma looked up at her, "The file that also accuses you of stealing money from your work and skipping out on your bail."

 _Don't run, don't run, don't run._

But Laura just sat there, staring her down, "You're a little young for a bounty hunter."

"I'm working for one."

"Bait?"

"Yeah."

The woman sighed and gathered her fork and her knife. Emma tensed like she was ready for a fight, "What are you doing?" 

"Well, before you send me away for a very long time, I suppose I'm going to have a nice last real meal. You're still paying? I want to order something expensive."

This wasn't how it was supposed to be! She was supposed to run out! Emma wasn't supposed to pay for anything! Just the tip to the extremely snotty waiter would kill her! (Emma didn't know if he was snotty, but this was a snotty place, so the waiter was BOUND to be snotty too) "I'm sorry?"

"We agreed to a date. I"m going to have a date before I go to jail for a long time."

"You can't-."

"Emma," Laura said gently, "I'm not going to run. I know you probably have backup. Since I'm not exactly in a hurry, I"m going to eat my meal and enjoy myself and then I"m going to come quietly. And you look like you could relax."

"But-."

"So," the woman looked at the menu, "Lobster then?"

000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

 **Present Day**

Mina was so angry that she refused to let anyone talk to her. She turned around and went outside as soon as they dragged her out of the interrogation room.

Her arm was broken, she knew that. The pain hadn't set in yet, but in t was only a matter of time until the adrenaline settled down.

She wouldn't be allowed near Alina after that show, she needed air.

"What was that?" Emma asked, not too far behind.

Mina closed her eyes. She didn't mean for herself to snap. But she started thinking about how Dracula had come after her and her family because of who her father had been. She thought about the lies he told. She thought about how quickly it all unraveled.

And if he had killed her father and ruined her life because of what he and Rumple had done to Dracula. what was he going to do to her daughter if he lived that long?

What would he and Alina do to Lizzie?

Mina had seen red when Emma told her things might end up easier for her if she gave up her husband. It'd only gotten worse when Alina talked about what Mina had had to do all those years ago.

"Mina!" Emma snapped, "What. The. Hell."

Mina turned and looked. She was just so tired but when she saw her friend….knowing the heroes here reputation for letting villains get away with the things that they did, she was ready to fight.

Mina couldn't look at Emma," She knows where he is."

"We don't do that to each other. We don't lock each other out to beat the crap out of prisoners."

Mina lost her temper then, "And you also don't promise someone like _her_ an easier sentence."

Emma held up a hand, as if to pacify her, "Mina."

"We had an agreement!" Mina snapped, getting more angry, "I did not interfere with your charges and you didn't interfere with mine."

"Dracula is the bigger threat."

"Oh trust me, Alina is just as big a threat as he is."

"Mina, you need to tell me WHY that is. Because you know what I think? I think you and whatever you did links with why you think she's a threat." 

Mina scoffed, "Figured that out, did you?" 

"Mina-." 

"If this thing wanted to go after your family, you wouldn't hesitate. If they effected you, your family, or your son's future-."

"Mina."

"YOU'D KILL THE DAMN THING," she screamed angrily, the stress was finally coming out, "You bloody wouldn't wouldn't hesitate."

"I don't like where this is going."

Mina drew in a breath, 'Unless their names are Rumplestiltskin and Regina Mills."

"And there ti is."

"We're wasting time," Mina started to head towards the sheriff's station, "We need to go find him, Alina's our only hope-."

Emma moved to stand in her way, "You can't go back in there."

Mina tensed, "I'm the only one that knows what she'll do."

"You opened fire in a closed hospital room full of blood and you attacked a prisoner. I know you're stressed. I know you're going through a lot. I can't imagine what it'd be like to go through what you are. But you need to take a breather. You need to go home-."

"I'm not going home."

"Well you're not coming back in the station until you can calm down," Emma's gaze softened, "When was the last time you really ate? Or had more than a couple hours of sleep?" 

"When have YOU?!" Mina said and hesitated, "I don't have that sort of time."

"You're coming apart. You need to rest."

"We have Alina. I"m not resting," Mina turned around and started walking off.

"Where are you going?"

"To the Rabbit Hole," she snapped, "Call me when you need me."

Emma sighed, a potential drunk angry ball of rage hunter? That was going to be a hunter, Emma needed to get her calmed down so she didn't have to worry about Mina shooting at blurry Alina figures.

She just had to make a call first.

000000000000000000000000000000000000

"You're leaving me alone with Dracula's wife?" Rumple's expression was incredulous.

"Yeah," Emma looked through the broken window. The only thing holding her in that room was Rumple's spell.

"You trust me for that?"

"Not really," Emma looked over, "But she's not the one that murdered Alexander. Dracula is. And we need her to find him. Or at the very least starve him out."

"I don't think it's a good idea to have Dracula thirsty enough to go out for food."

"I need to go calm down Mina."

"I'm not sure most people would be calm facing their abuser they watched murder their husband."

"I can't have her going off the rails, I can't have you taking revenge either."

"And yet you're leaving me alone," Rumplestiltskin said in amusement, "Good call."

"Oh, your'e not alone," Emma smirked, "Bae's coming over." 

Rumple's amusement fell, "Oh, you're kidding."

"I"m not. He'll be here in two minutes. He was just waiting for the call," Emma pat his shoulder, "Listen for the phone for me. Try not to turn anyone into a creepy puppet."

00000000000000000000000000000000

She found Mina where she said she'd be, that was at the bar at the Rabbit Hole with a whiskey in her hand.

Without a word, she sat down next to Mina and put her keys and badge down next to them. Mina barely looked at her. They sat in silence for a few moments before Mina slid a full whiskey over towards her.

"Thank you," Emma took a drink.

"I'm sorry I went insane," Mina whispered.

Emma nodded, "Sorry I tried to offer her anything less with little information."

Mina ran a hand through her hair, "I think we're both losing our minds. 

"I think everyone's gone insane a long time ago," Emma lifted her glass, "Including you." 

"It's a very distinct possibility," Mina told her tiredly and clinked her glass with Emma's.

00000000000000000000000000

 **11 Years Ago**

Of all the ways for this to go, Emma was certain that she never thought it'd go like this. She thought the woman would run, she thought she'd get assaulted but she didn't expect the woman to just…settle back and start ordering expensive things to eat.

"Well it's my last supper, right?" the woman said as they brought in the second course.

"But it's not my credit card."

"I have embezzlement as a waiting charge, what's the worst that continues?" the woman demanded and started eating more. She took Emma in, "How old are you?" 

"Twenty-five."

"Please," the woman rolled her eyes.

"Twenty," she finally admitted.

"Little young for a bounty hunter."

"My bailbondsman set me up with the guy that was supposed to bring you in."

"Hmm, and how do you feel about that?"

Emma shrugged, "I gotta learn, I guess. I want to be a bailbonds…person someday. I take my lessons where I can get them

"Indeed," the woman leaned back and winced.

Emma watched as she rubbed her belly. She thought at first maybe the woman was faking it as her hand circled a swollen bump, but she saw the real reason why the long flowing dress was being worn, "You're pregnant."

"Thought that might be a rough thing to see on a first date. Though I suppose if we'd hit it off, you'd have seen it when we went home."

Emma blushed a bit, "You have a boyfriend that cared about you. Were you even going to tell me about him?"

Lucy scoffed, "I HAD a boyfriend that did THIS,"

She pulled her dress back, revealing some fading bruises on her arm. Emma saw they went all the way up and probably towards her back. Emma was VERY familiar with that type of bruising. She, her foster siblings, and sometimes even her parents bore them a lot of the time, "My god."

"I stole the money to start a new life," the woman whispered, "To take my baby elsewhere and start over again…to get away from all this. But I wasn't smart about it. I got caught. And then my boyfriend got me home…" she shook her head, "Emma, I had to run. There were two options for me and neither one were good."

Emma was squirming with guilt. she thought about her own son that she'd given away into the same system that ended up failing her. Was he safe? Would he ever find out about her? Or about his past? No, she hoped not. It was better that way. She'd never gotten to have her fresh start with her baby and the man she thought she loved. She'd gotten it all ripped away from her because of internal and external forces.

Which put her in a very particular position here.

And as she stared at this mother to be, knowing exactly what faced her…and what faced that baby if the boyfriend got custody….she had to figure out what to do.

But she might lose it all if she did what she was thinking.

0000000000000000000000000000000000000000

 **Present Day**

In the course of their unofficial "Girls Night Out", Emma learned several things. Mina could almost drink her under the table but she had the edge as they sipped a LOT of whiskey and talked.

And Mina swore like a sailor when she got pissy enough. Emma learned 7 new cursewords that she'd never even heard before. She was already thinking of ways to put them in a conversation.

"So like…were you always a savior?" Mina scratched her head, "Is that a thing that you become if you save people? Or is that a special title."

"I dunno, I"m not clear on how the whole savior thing works," Emma muttered, "Maybe you're a savior too. Maybe we're all saviors!"

"Ick," Mina made a face, "There are some hunters that I would not want to classify as a savior thank you very much."

"Well, I mean, you obviously are," Emma slurred slightly, "I mean, here you come, fighting monsters with a baby on your hip, ready to save a town and annihilate you're abuser."

Mina stared ahead, her eyes glazing over as she went over painful memories, "I'm no savior. You can keep the title."

"I just want to know how you managed to do it," Emma stared at the brown liquid in the glass, "I was in prison. I had no home, no prospects, no family, no money…and I knew I couldn't keep my son. But you kept your daughter."

"Do you feel guilt about giving him up?"

Emma ran a hand through her hair, "Every day."

Mina took another drink of hers and sighed, "It was selfish to keep her. I was sitting there thinking that when I realized i was pregnant. I wanted to give her up….her father and I weren't exactly in love. He was a passing fancy, we'd saved each other's lives. I thought I'd die doing this bloody job. And then I"m pregnant, and I have an out. And it's a bloody good way out. Until I was pregnant; I had no permanent home, I wasn't talking to my mother, and I was living hand to mouth. My body is breaking down at 28. So, I"m pregnant and I have options. I can give her away…and continue my work saving people. Or I can keep her…and know that the people I COULD be saving are dying because I wasn't there when I could have been and that their blood will be on my hands."

"You chose to keep her."

"It was a decision I made in my last month. She was early. I looked at her tiny face and….I couldn't get rid of her. And whose to say that my next hunt wouldn't be my last? Whose to say I wouldn't die immediately?"

"Whose to say?"

Mina looked down and toyed with her thumb, "I still live with that guilt though. Because whose to say I would die?"

Emma watched her, "I think I understand more than you know." 

"Yeah?"

"Yeah," Emma finished her next drink, "I'm in charge of everyone's safety. You know, I don't just get to walk around from town to town like you do and move from place to place. I have an entire world full of people relying on me. And half the time, I don't know what the threat is, or the threat gets lucky or we get lucky and the threat's eliminated….I have to worry about everyone. I have to worry about my family. My son's died three times. My mother was once forced to admit that the relationship she had with me was never the relationship that she wanted with her daughter. and now she has a son. A son that she and my father will never miss out on anything on. And here I am. scared to relax with Neal….or relax with Henry or my parents because the next big threat is just around the corner. It always is. and one day, it'll win. And I won't have my family anymore or they won't have me. If it's not Dracula, it might be the next problem, or the next."

"It's a balancing act from hell," Mina gestured for them both to get new drinks

They both took another sip. Emma was getting tired. She looked over at Mina, "So who IS the father?"

Mina shrugged, "Not sure you know him."

"Oh, I don't know. These things keep getting linked back into the weird circle of our family. I bet this is noooooo different."

"I think you'er getting tipsy."

"So what if i am?" Emma challenged.

Mina sighed and put her head in her hands, "You're impossible."

"So are you! And you yell more."

"Fine, fine," Mina took a beer pretzel and ate it, "He was a man of the seas."

"Oookay?"

"His name was Killian."

And everything in Emma's world froze. She stared at Mina for a few moments. She had SAID it all linked back to their little circle of family but she didn't expect it to REALLY link that much

Killian Jones…Captain Hook had a daughter he would never meet because he gave himself for the last curse to be cast so they could come here.

"I need another drink," Emma muttered.

000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Alina wasn't removed from the interrogation room. Rumplestiltskin worried that if he came in or she went out, he'd wrap his arms around her throat and pop her head off himself. She was a threat, he wasn't sure why, Mina wasn't so forthcoming with him anymore than she was with Emma but she was with Dracula. Dracula had killed Alexander.

Bae brought them both tea and sat down watching her through the window alongside his father, "How long does she go before she needs to drink."

"She won't die," he muttered," She'll just physically start to age but that won't be for a little while yet."

Bae looked at him like he was trying to figure out if that was the truth or not, "We should put her in a cell."

"She cracked the wall by throwing a table into it."

"You could immobilize her."

"I don't think you want me to truly immobilize her," Rumplestiltskin said darkly, his hand tightening on the teacup.

Baelfire looked over to him and hesitated, "So….I had a brother."

"Not in the most….technical way of speaking."

"You raised him for three years, you found him a family….you call him your son."

"That was only a recent development.' 

"Why are you backtracking?" Bae asked and sounded like he was getting ready for a fight.

"Because judging by your stance, it's not something you're entirely comfortable with."

They stared at each other, Rumple knew his son was uncomfortable. His stance was rigid, he couldn't look at his father and he shuffled from one foot to the other, "It's just complicated."

Rumplestiltskin watched the woman curled up in the makeshift cell. She was with the man that helped kill Alexander. Or maybe she even helped.

He could kill her.

"You weren't going to bring him along for the curse."

"No, I wasn't."

"Even though he was your son…"

"His wife was pregnant. What was I supposed to do? Leave her behind while I took him? Or subject her to another personality when she didn't believe in things like magic?"

Bae waited for a few moments, "Is that the only reason?"

Rumple stared at his hands, "I- I don't want you to think I abandoned another child I thought of as a son. That was not it. I've forgotten a lot, you know. A lot about our old life, but I never will forget what you went through after I turned. I will never forget how lonely you were and how I refused to listen to what you wanted and needed. I couldn't do that to another child. I couldn't shut him away in a castle with just a grown monster for a companion. Were Dark Hunters the most healthy choice? For them….yes and no. But I gave him up because I wanted him to be around people and to have an education and have friends and he got all that. And then Dracula came and took all of it."

He'd tried to keep his son from falling into the curse and risking his family and all it did was leave him unprotected.

Every decision he tried to make ended up with his children and loved ones hurt.

"Belle wants us to have a baby," Rumplestiltskin confesses to his son, "How can I agree to that knowing I've failed the two children I have?"

Bae was quiet for a few moments, "I forgave you, you know. For what happened."

Rumplestiltskin tried not to look hopeful. He tried not to let those words that he wanted to hear for centuries get to him, but he felt his heart swelling anyway. His son forgave him! He could start repairing things with him again. They could work on being a family!

"I spent a year without you," Bae muttered, "And in the process of trying to get you back, I realized my anger didn't matter anymore. But that aside…I can't forget what you did. And there's a part of me that will always blame myself for things that happened afterwards."

Rumplestiltskin felt his heart break. He could tell his son it wasn't his fault, because it wasn't. But what would it really matter at this point? His son wouldn't believe him.

"We just have to get through this war," Rumple muttered, "With everyone intact….and then…we can all be a family."

0000000000000000000000000000

 **11 Years Ago**

Emma was standing there in the bathroom with the woman as she washed her hands, "What are they going to do with the baby when it's born?" 

"They'll take it away," Emma said, "A foster system maybe. But if your boyfriend wants it, they'll probably give it to him."

The woman froze, "They can't."

Emma leaned on the sink, "I know."

"You have to say something!"

'I can't! They won't listen to me. I'm only 20 years old, I just got out jail myself. I got the job because I got lucky. I-i I can't do this."

"Then what am I supposed to do?"

Emma knew, "I could be fired. I could be in a lot of trouble."

"I couldn't ask you to do that."

Emma cringed, "I- I had a son. When I was in jail. They took him away…I gave him away because there was no father to speak of and I had nothing. And what you did wasn't great but I can understand it."

"Do you know what happened to him?"

Emma felt her insides clench up, "I don't know. I signed my rights away. I couldn't…I can't be the best for him when I'm still trying to figure out what the best is. You have to do what's best for your kid. I need you to tell me that you're the best for your kid."

The woman stared at her, "I'm the best chance my baby will have."

Emma opened the window, "Go then."

"You'll get in trouble."

"Yeah, let me figure that out."

The woman hesitated, "You could leave with me." 

"What?"

"Run off together."

"I have a job"

"You won't be if they find out what you're doing."

"Well, I"m a good liar," Emma said, not really believing it either, "And I really don't think I could be a good girlfriend. And I don't want to live life on the streets again. I'm just getting my life together. I've never had that before."

The woman rushed forward anyway, gave Emma a kiss. Emma….to her own surprise…returned it. They only pulled away for a moment, before she gave Emma a smaller kiss and rested her forehead on hers.

"Bye: the woman whispered and went to climb out the window.

Emma went to stand in front of the mirror. She looked at her shaking hands and looked back at her reflection.

She had to. She'd ruin her life otherwise.

Ruin everything she built.

Emma closed her eyes….

….and slammed her own forehead against the mirror.

0000000000000000000000000000000000000

 **Present Day**

It didn't take long for the Rabbit Hole to be filled with first squabbling between the hunter and the savior and then loud laughter as they started exchanging stories.

"…see boogeymen are bastards, they're hard to prove. They can effect memories so if the parents see it, they won't remember and the kid will always stay scared of the thing under the bed. So I went after one that I knew was there. And so I sneak in this kid's room for half a pound he gave me….and I popped the thing. It exploded in green slime."

"Oh my god!" Emma laughed.

Mina burst into laughter, "Covered me in green slime that was sticky and hardened." 

"That's so gross."

"I'm still picking it out of my hair."

"Hunting does not sound like a sanitary laugh…life…sorry."

"I'm lucky to have all my teeth."

"Yeah, me too," Emma took a drink.

Mina stared at her empty glass. She went to raise her hand and ask for one more but in her drunken haze, she knew that probably wasn't a good idea. She had to focus. she was a hunter on a case!

And she had to tell Emma. Before Alina told her.

"When I started hunting…for about three and a half years, I was angry," she started, "I lost everything because of Dracula. And Dracula was dead. I couldn't….take it out on him. And that made me so angry. I wanted to take it out everything that was a monster and hurt people. I didn't….do it to save them as much as I did it to hurt those that did what Dracula did. that might not make a lot of difference to some people but there IS a difference."

Emma was quiet, listening, so Mina continued.

"Dracula's wives split after he died. I hunted down two of them and slaughtered them before I turned on Alina. She was the hardest to find, since she was the oldest. I tracked her down to a village outside Scotland…and what I found there…." her voice broke, "There were 12 children missing, which was what attracted me to the village. Travel was slow but I eventually got there and when I found them they were not alive anymore. By the time I got there, she'd turned them. And they were…wild, they were killing everything with a pulse because they couldn't stop the thirst. They weren't THEM anymore, they-."

She stopped and started sobbing.

Emma knew then, what Mina had done. What she'd considered so horrible that she'd wanted to tell Emma.

"They didn't want to, the party I was with. They wanted to find another way. But I'd gone through the transformation process. Mine was reversed, I'd never tasted human blood and they killed my sire. The children had no such luck on either. Alina was long gone. There was no other way, I did what I had to-….it sounds so terrible, doesn't it? Killing 12 children is 'what I had to do' because Alina wanted to get at me."

"You don't know if it was against you."

"Dracula used to throw a bag with a baby towards his wives to eat, Jonathan saw it," Mina sobbed, "She didn't do it because she was MATERNAL. She only pretends she is because she knows how much it turns my stomach."

Emma sat there in silence, "Well now I know why you didn't want her to have it easy."

"12 children and countless babies she drained is probably nothing compared to everything she's probably done. The other wives, they were mindless animals like the children but she's had time to evolve. she's as evil as Dracula is. We _cannot_ let her. It's a spit in the face of everything she's done….that she'll continue to do."

"Okay," Emma said. After a moment, she started to stand.

"You're leaving," Mina noted tiredly. She knew it'd happen. Once she confessed what she'd done, she'd expected Emma to cut off contact. Why shouldn't she? Mina still lived in the stifling guilt of what she'd done.

"I just need to take some air," Emma pulled on her coat.

"I'm sorry. I didn't know what else to do. I still don't know what else I could have done. We didn't have the resources to keep them-."

"I know why you did it," Emma told her, "And no matter what, it was not your fault. You know that right?"

"Logically I do. Emotionally is a different story."

"Always is," Emma said quietly.

"I'm going back to the sheriff's station, Emma."

Suddenly Emma found that she didn't care. She thought about the countless babies that probably died horribly. the 12 children Mina was forced to kill.

"We need her alive," Emma told her and started to stumble away, "Just don't forget that."

"Whatever I could do…isn't enough."

"You should get that arm looked at too."

"It's only broken a little bit, I'll be fine." 

"Yeah okay," Emma said sarcastically, she barely moved her arm all night. And she was too drunk to really try to heal it without worrying Mina might grow a shoe out of her skin or something, "Get Rumple to do it anyway. Just don't do anything rash while you're there."

0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

 **11 Years Ago**

Emma had maybe done her work a little too well. She'd blacked out upon slamming her head against the mirror, twice. And when she woke up there was blood everywhere and paramedics standing over her.

She needed ten stitches. They told her she was lucky she didn't have a worse concussion. Emma just thought she was lucky her idea hadn't led to her getting glass in her own eyes.

Then her boss came like a roaring inferno. She could hear Max trying to defend himself outside the doorway. How was he to know that the woman would attack her? She was a vegan and wore hippie clothes!

Nothing about the pregnancy. Emma wondered if Max even knew.

Then the door flew open, her boss came in and looked her over. They stared at each other for a few moments before he sighed, "You alright?"

"Yeah."

"Well, we'll add assault to her list of charges, that's for sure."

Emma's heart started racing, "I don't want that."

He stopped, he turned. Even Max peeked in the doorway, "What?"

"I don't want that."

"She slammed your face in a mirror, Emma. You could've gotten very hurt."

"She's already embezzled and skipped out on her hearing. She's already probably going to go away for awhile. I don't want any of that. I just want it all over." 

He took her in and Emma felt herself tensing under his gaze. Why was he staring at her so much? did he suspect?

He went to close the door and Emma found herself alone with him, "Emma. If there's anything you did and you didn't tell us-."

Emma put her best 'innocent' face on, "I was just taking her to the bathroom before we left and she attacked me."

He watched her, "You're sure?"

He did suspect, "Yes."

A few more moments passed, Emma felt herself shrinking under his gaze, "Alright then. If that's how you want to play it, Emma. You won't be in the field anymore. You'll have desk duty from here on out."

Emma's heart started racing. She was keeping her job? "Okay…"

"Be in the office first thing Monday."

"Thank you, sir."

"Don't thank me, Emma," he said, "I'm still trying ti figure out if I can trust you or not."

But that was fine. She had her job. She helped someone that could've been like her. The field work and things like that could come later. She was only 20, right? She had her whole life ahead of her.

And things were finally looking up.

Emma didn't hear back from Lucy until about a year later, she got a letter under a completely different name that had a letter and a picture of her and her baby both in Chicago.

Emma visited her a couple of times. Both were week long flings where both relaxed and the world didn't effect them.

Last Emma heard, she was about to be married. Emma had congratulated her. Lucy wrote back she hoped Emma found her happy ending.

And that was the night before Henry came.

00000000000000000000000000000000000

 **Present Day**

Regina had sealed their rooms to the inn. She couldn't help but think Alina might get out. They always got out. If Regina was put in there, even she would find a way out if she had to, so why should a millennia old vampire be any different?

If she was really millennia old and the hunter wasn't just exaggerating. Hunters were like pirates that way. They kill a cockroach and no one looked, they bragged it was a kraken or two they fought at one time.

Better safe than sorry though.

And this was the first time Regina had been alone with Henry in MONTHS. She was going to make it count.

So she did what she could. She summoned one of his gaming systems that he'd brought back with him from outside Storybrooke and learned to play the bloody thing. She wasn't very good, and Henry thought it was hysterical trying to watch her learn to drive some little go kart that was far harder to steer than a normal car.

Henry stayed up too late, ate too much junk food and collapsed on the couch to sleep. Regina…several years back would never have gone for this. This wasn't something a mother did, this was something a best friend would do.

But now was different. She was trying to learn, she was trying to learn to let him be a kid.

And it was worth it, after everything he'd been through.

000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

It took two hours for Mina to convince Rumplestiltskin to let her see Alina. By the time she had, it was morning, the sun was up and Alina was asleep.

Not for long. Mina entered, very loudly and pulled the table and chairs up. Rumplestiltskin was in there with her. That'd been one of the conditions. Mina was not quite sure what the point was when he wanted her as dead as Mina did.

"You reek of alcohol."

"Well, Dracula would drive any sane person to drink," Mina sat down.

They regarded each other for a minute, "You lost your temper, Ms. Harker."

Mina was silent, she was better than that when she was hunting. But she'd seen Alina again and she remember _everything_ and just lost control. And now they were here.

"You're still quite the emotional little thing," Alina dug deeper.

"My emotions are my strength," Mina told her cooly, "What I do with them is the weakness. If I had no emotions, I would be like you. So I cling to them with everything. It helps me be a better hunter."

"One might say the opposite when a hunter has to see the horrors you see."

"Those turn into psychopaths," Mina hissed.

Alina watched her, "I'm thirsty."

"Too bad."

Alina glanced up at Rumplestiltskin, and saw no pity in his eyes, "Are you hoping I'll tell you where he is in exchange for blood?"

"We'll find him one way or another," Mina said.

"He's awake you know," Alina smirked, "He awoke when I said you had a child."

Everything in Mina went rigid then. Her heart started racing as Alina brought up her baby.

And Alina heard her heartbeat, smelled the racing blood and smiled, "Do you really think after the lives you've taken, you'll be a good mother."

"Where is he, Alina?" If he was already awake, this was bad. they needed to find him NOW.

"You are broken, you cannot be fixed. You broke yourself you know. Thousands of women are widowed in the world every day but do they take up arms? No. They live their lives. any damage you've gotten you've gotten because you chipped away at yourself over every hunt you participated in."

"Where is he?"

"Are you afraid?"

"I'm not afraid of anything anymore."

"Liar, you're the most scared of anyone in this town."

Something clenched in Mina's stomach as she told her that. She had her daughter, and it terrified her to know that Alina and Dracula knew she had her. The one small good thing she'd given birth to could now be ripped away. Just like everyone else.

"You think you're a hunter and you can come in here with your knives and your guns and your crosses and holy water and you can frighten me but you can't. You're a child playing with sticks. You are nothing to me and you were a passing fancy to him. And now he's awake and now he remembers what you helped lead. He'll be coming for you, Mina Harker. LIke your father before you. and if your child isn't the first to pay for your crimes, then she'll grow up without you. Maybe she'll even grow up with us-."

Mina heard enough, she tried to lunge across the table at the mention of them being NEAR her baby. The only thing holding her back was the Dark One.

"Control yourself," he hissed, "This is what she wants."

"Tell that savior of yours that her fate will be the exact same if she helps you."

"You touch any of them and I'll skin you alive."

"I'm sure you'll try."

"Lets go," Rumplestiltskin took them out of the room with his magic.

Mina pulled away as soon as they landed in the room outside the interrogation room.

"If he's awake and he knows about my baby…"

"He's gaining strength," Rumple said. He knew what Mina was thinking. Of course Dracula was awake, he had to be in order to drink the blood that Alina was getting. But to hear that he was…to have that confirmation was terrifying.

It had been like him and his father. He knew that his dad wasn't dead, he knew what he was doing. Then it was brought to him that his father was still officially alive and that sparked that terror after all those centuries ago.

Mina started to walk off.

"Where are you going?" 

"I'm going to go home and hold my daughter," Mina said and pulled on her coat, "It might be one of the last few times I'll get to."

0000000000000000000000000

Emma went for a very long walk (more like stumble sometimes) to sober up before she turned around and went to the inn where her family was staying for the night.

Everyone was already up. Her parents were cooing over her baby brother, Henry sat staring blearily into his oatmeal. He'd obviously stayed up too late. Emma wondered how Regina came to allow THAT to happen.

She watched them quietly for a few moments.

Alina had turned children. She'd drained babies. She'd helped kill the closest to Mina because of who she was to her father.

Emma felt a shiver of fear go through her as she realized that everything that Alina had done could happen to her family. Emma could die, or they could take everything from her. What would happen then? Would Emma be a broken shell? Definitely. Emma couldn't even imagine what her life would be if she ever lost her son.

That was who they'd go after first.

"Mom!" Henry got up and went over to her, "Did you find him? Did you find Dracula?"

The room was silent, everyone was waiting, hoping, that maybe that was the case; that she'd come in to say that she got him.

"No," Emma whispered and pulled her son in for a hug, she kissed hte top of his head, "No we didn't."

"You'll find him, right?"

"Yeah kid, we will."

But for now, she didn't want to think about it. She just wanted to spend the morning with her family.

000000000000000000000000000000000000

At 9 in the morning, Jiminy rarely had anyone come into his office. Most were busy with their jobs. There were a lot of people displaced from the newest curse, and everyone needed help after Mr. Dark. But after those months passed people began to get better and move on.

So when the door opened, and he saw the hunter come in and sit down, clinging to her baby, it was a surprise.

"Mrs…."

"Harker," she finished.

"What can…what can I do for you?"

The woman watched him, "In my world, the things I could say would get me locked in an asylum with a lobotomy or a drill waiting to happen."

He heard the fear in her voice, "That won't happen here."

"I have to believe I will be safe."

"Therapy has evolved from what it used to be…or…currently is in your world. If you wanted to talk…..about what you want to talk about…then nothing will happen to you. You will not be locked away and you will not be harmed."

"Not even under the promise that it's for my greater good?"

"I feel maybe talking to someone willing to listen is for everyone's greater good sometimes."

Mina hesitated and looked down at the baby in her arms, "I may not survive this newest battle. they might kill me. And if that happens, I don't want my daughter to grow up with no idea of where she came from….where I came from."

"I could record it…if you want."

Mina thought about it and nodded, "In case something happens to me. It's a very long tale though. Do you have time?" 

"I can move around my appointments," he had a feeling she needed it more than Mrs. Ginger anyway.

Mina gave a nod, "Okay." 

He went to get the recorder and quite a few tapes. Mina waited patiently as he sat down and pressed 'record' on the button."

"Now," he started, "Shall we begin?"


	5. s04E05 - Mina Harker

**Warning: This chapter deals with some heavy issues, as Dracula turning people was a metaphor for sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.**

Archie Hopper was used to silence. People tried to find their own voice all their lives and when they finally had a chance to speak out, it took some time to work out how they wanted to say it. Mina Harker was one of those people. When he'd pressed the record button, she'd gone quiet. Her eyebrows furrowed, like she was trying to figure out where to start.

"Ms. Harker?" He started.

"What?" Mina whispered.

'You can talk about…..anything here, you know."

"There's just so much I want to tell my daughter."

"And you will when she's old enough"

"I'm not so lucky to have such assurances," Mina whispered, "Given my line of work, I"m lucky to have survived long enough to conceive her."

"Maybe you should start with your childhood?"

"There's not a lot to talk about," Mina shrugged, "It was a happy childhood. I had both my parents, I had plenty of uncles…and their wives and I had cousins. It was perfect. However, recently I've learned it was all a lie. My father was a hunter in his past. My mother never found out, if she had…things would've been different."

"Was it a lie though? His past was his past, Mina. He moved past it. He gave you a happy life and your mother as well, free from the things…the awful things you now know is out there. Would knowing they were out there make a difference?"

Mina was quiet. She shifted. It was a question that she'd argued with in her mind ever since Rumple told her the truth about her father. He still would've died. THey'd have never known what happened to him. She still would've been in the position she was in.

But maybe they could've saved Lucy. Maybe they could've saved Jonathan.

If he'd been honest, she'd never have ended up like THIS.

But did that mean her entire childhood was a farce? She could tell herself that maybe it was all she wanted but deep down she knew it wasn't. Her father was her father, shaped by his past. But he was still a lawyer, he'd still moved away from the hunting life. Everything else was separate. It had to be. Maybe he saw no other option but to lie about there not being monsters out there.

And what would happen when Lizzie needed to know such things? Would she try to preserve her innocence or tell her the truth about the world?

Mina wrapped her coat around herself tightly, was there a sudden chill in the air?

"Here we go," she whispered and started to tell her story.

0000000000000000000000000000

 **8 Years Ago**

20 year old Mina knew there were other worlds. She had known that all her life. There were riches brought in, and portal jumpers brought people back and forth who wanted a new start or wanted to explore their options. There were limitless possibilities.

But for Mina Murray, everything she had was right there. Exploring was something she had no interest in. With a widowed mother, her governess job , her best friend; Lucy and her fiancé, why WOULD she? They said there were wonders she could never imagine. They said the other worlds had color in it, actual color, but Mina didn't have any interest. She was content with her life.

If only she had her father here, she'd have everything; but after four years, she still didn't know what happened to him. No one did. They had to accept that he died and the body was disposed of. Mina's uncles had traveled all up and down the railway tracks to search for his body in the chance he'd been robbed and killed. When they found nothing, some voiced their belief that he just left his family.

When her mother found out, she cut off communication with said uncles for a very long time. Relationships were just now being renewed but her mother had been completely firm. Her father would never abandon them, something happened.

Learning to live without him had been difficult. He'd been such an integral part of her childhood and upbringing. He was the balance needed when she and her mother clashed. Without that, they tried but sometimes words were harsh. Papa used to say they were a lot alike but Mina didn't see it.

They still worked through their grieving, every week they put together time to spend together at their father's favorite restaurant. He had worked there for a time, he was friends with the owner. It had once led to some confusion when the owner said that wasn't true. Her father hadn't worked for him, he'd done some work FOR him….but Mina didn't see a difference.

"The pigeon seems cheap," her mother told her as they went through the menu.

"Because there are loads of them, I suspect," Mina glanced over the menu she'd memorized at 12, "Rats with wings on every corner. I hear they might bring in hawks to deal with them."

"Then I suppose we'd have an overpopulation of hawks," her mother said

"Yes, but one can take hawks and train them. No one ever looked as fantastic with a pigeon on their arm as they do a hawk," Mina said and bit into a teacake.

Her mother leaned back with a sigh, "Are we so bored that we're discussing pigeons and hawks?"

Mina shrugged, "Everything with the wedding is moving on splendidly. It'll be a summer affair. You know all about my charges. What else is there to speak of?"

"Will Lucy have a beau picked out by then?"

Mina stopped, her best friend; Lucy had vibrant red hair and clear green eyes. She was tall and thin and everything Mina wasn't in terms of looks. Men flocked naturally to her; there were currently three that she'd settled to choose between.

"One does not know with Lucy," Mina sighed and looked at the menu again, nothing seemed appealing today.

"Perhaps she will bring all three," her mother stared at the menu, "We should try somewhere else one day."

"There's nowhere else that makes us feel close to papa."

"The food is mediocre, even he thought so. He just liked it because his working for the chef got him a lifetime of low payment here."

Yeah, that sounded like papa.

They settled on an awkward silence.

"He would be proud of you, you know," her mother whispered, "I know I am."

Mina blushed. She'd heard it before. With every language she mastered, and every study she worked to excel in (What little were offered to her sex), her mother told her that.

"I wish he was here to see me get married," Mina admitted, "I dream about it sometimes….seeing him walk me down the aisle and give me away."

Her mother took her hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze. They took comfort in the gesture, as Mina turned her hand over to hold her mother's.

"Jonathan's here," her mother told her.

Mina turned as her fiancé walked in through the door. He was 6 foot tall, he had brown hair and a magnificent beard that seemed to compliment his face rather than hide it (Lucy HATED facial hair on men). What drew Mina to him was his soft brown eyes. She'd thought her own were mousy and boring. They didn't have the allure that blue or green had, but somehow Jonathan's were perfect, they'd been her favorite thing she'd noticed about him when she met him two years ago.

"Darling," he kissed the top of her head and turned on his best charming smile towards her mother, who still wasn't sure about him, "Mrs. Murray"

"Mr. Harker," she greeted.

"May I speak to Mina for a moment alone?"

Mina glanced at her mother, something was wrong, she could sense it. She stood and moved to a corner, "What is it?"

"I didn't want to ruin your lunch with your mother," he told her, "But something's come up. I'm being sent out of country for some legal matters."

Mina blinked, and tried to process this, "What- what legal matters? Where?"

"Transylvania."

"Well where is that?" She demanded and tried to think. Romania perhaps? It sounded Romanian.

"Romania," he confirmed and swallowed, "It's a Count, Mina. If we got him as a client….if we made him interested in our country, it could only be beneficial to us."

"But what about our wedding?" She whispered.

His face fell, she saw the guilt, "I begged Edward, Mina. I did. He said it has to be me, it can't be anyone else. The Count has requested me specifically."

"How would he know about you?"

"I don't know but- ," he sighed, "This is an amazing opportunity that you and I can share in once we've started legal proceedings on…whatever it is that he wants. And then I'll make whatever arrangements he needs, and I'll come back and we'll get married."

She wouldn't have her summer wedding unless she put it off for another year. This was ridiculous! Jonathan was a handsome man, she didn't know if she could WAIT another year.

Why should a count want to see him personally? It didn't make sense. Jonathan was young still, he had no big cases to brag about, he was just starting out. Some foreign royalty in some foreign country wouldn't know about them.

But whatever and however he found out, such was a perfect opportunity. Through this, he might be able to make a name for himself.

Mina gave a nod, "Go."

"Truly?"

"We can put off a wedding, we can't get another Count," she bit her lip, "But promise me you'll come back to me."

Her missing father always played on her mind when Jonathan went traveling.

He beamed and took both her hands in his. He kissed the back of them, making Mina's body quiver with desire, "The devil himself couldn't keep me from you."

Mina reached out to stroke his face. She wouldn't see him for MONTHS and the thought of being away from him hurt, "Promise me you'll write."

"Every day," he told her.

"And you'll find no other woman's comfort."

"Why should I throw away perfection?"

Mina blushed again and gave a bashful smile as she straightened her cravat, "Know that I love you."

"And I love you," he took the opportunity and gave her a kiss, Mina returned it and held him close.

Even then, a small part of her knew she should've begged him to stay

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Mina knew it would be months before her fiancé would come back to her and they could restart on wedding plans, but that did not make their separation easier

So she focused on her work. She was a governess; a private instructor paid by well off families to teach their children. It took plenty of her time. Little Mark was brimming with curiosity and energy, he exhausted her every day. When she wasn't with them, she was with Lucy or studying French.

Then the letters stopped coming.

"I'm sure it's nothing," Lucy chattered as they walked side by side through the market, "Perhaps he's busy. Or the letters are simply getting lost. We can't possibly know how far in the country he is, perhaps the postal system is slower."

"It's been months."

"And the seas are stormy this time of year, I"m sure it's nothing to worry about," Lucy interlinked her arm with hers, "He'd swim back to you if he could. Most girls would give their lives to have a man like Jonathan."

Mina gave a smile, "I suppose that's something from a woman thats still got three men chasing her.'

"I have a hard time deciding, they're all good men."

"You only like Quincy because he has a Texan accent, tells good stories and has a rhino head bowie knife."

"And? It's exotic."

"He plays up the accent to impress you. He'll take you back to the Americas and you'll ride cows like an uncivilized heathen."

Lucy scowled, "It's nothing like that."

"I think you should accept Arthur. At least he's English."

"He's a depressed bore compared to Quincy"

"You love him."

"I love all of them! But that changes nothing."

"He's secure, his father's a lord. You'd have a title far greater than anything any of our friends could achieve."

"And John Seward? You haven't said anything about him, he's a doctor."

Mina sighed, "Of an insane asylum. He's secure enough I suppose but doctors are married to their work."

"And he's not depressed."

"I'd be depressed too if I had two other people to fight over my intended with!" Mina teased and nudged her friend, "Arthur's secure. You should marry him. Now lets bloody focus on something else. I'm bored talking about men."

Mina pulled her friend over to a booth that had used books. The woman greeted her and all three of them discussed the new entries for awhile. Mina searched through some of the advanced French books, the language was giving her fits and she was considering giving up the whole bloody language when she spotted her mother coming towards her.

"Mina," her mother was pale and shoved a letter in her hands.

Mina immediately opened it. It took her a few reads to fully process what the paper said.

"I must go to Transylvania."

"Why?" Lucy asked.

Mina couldn't think, her heart started racing as she looked between her mother and her best friend, "It's a telegram from a hospital. Jonathan was found wandering the country. He's ill. He's lost his mind. I have to go attend him."

"Not alone you're not," Her mother started following her, "You'll need an escort and you need a way to get there."

"Well luckily I have uncles in the Navy, don't I?"

"They won't veer off course to take you to some godforsaken foreign country barely out of it's youth! It's only ten years older than you!"

"But they have friends, do they not?"

Her mother was grim, "You'll not leave without me."

"Very well then," Mina turned and started back to the house at a fast pace, "Lets get packing."

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The journey that time of year was usually treacherous but thank God, it was an easier journey than she thought it'd be. She had spent some time on ships but not enough to get her sea legs. So she spent some of journey quite ill.

The hospital Jonathan was taken to was right inside Hungary; a small outpost barely bigger than their house.

His doctor spoke enough German to make their communication with him possible. Jonathan didn't speak German, so they didn't really know anything more than what the telegram said.

Her heart fell when she saw him. He'd lost so much weight, he was skin and bones. His whole body was pale and his beard and hair were greying.

He was babbling in his sleep. Mina went to kneel beside him and stroked his hair back. He was feverish. Her mother dipped a rag into the bucket and handed it to her.

"Jonathan, it's alright," she whispered gently, "I'm here."

It was another week before he opened his eyes. And in that week, getting him to eat and drink was a battle in itself. He fought, he refused. He screamed obscenities about demons and gypsies and seductresses who ate dogs and children. It was all nonsense and fever dreams.

But finally at the end of their week, the fever broke and he opened his eyes, "Mina?"

"It's alright," she soothed, finally feeling relief, "You're safe."

He jerked away, "what are you doing here?"

"They found you wandering the countryside."

"Are we still in-…are we still there?"

"No. You made it to Hungary. You're in a hospital here."

He gave a sigh of relief but grew tense again, "Borders won't stop demons."

Mina stroked his hair back, "You need your rest."

"Mina, you shouldn't have come."

"Shh, shh, I'm here now.. There are no demons. If there were, they'd have taken you. You've had a bad spell but you're fine now. The worst is over."

"It's too dangerous."

"I'll be just fine. Mother is with me and even the devil's scared of her," she tucked the covers around him, "Just rest."

He was going to fight, she could see the defiance in his eyes. But finally just closed his eyes and dropped off to sleep.

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He became more lucid as the days passed. He was awake more, talking more, and getting out of bed was a struggle at first but something he was getting stronger in.

By the end of their second month there, Jonathan was well enough to be moved. They made plans to start going towards Germany to meet with family.

But there was something they had to do first. They found a catholic priest willing to travel down to Hungary and marry them. It wasn't the wedding either of them wanted; with Jonathan begging her forgiveness over and over. However, anything else was just improper. Even with her mother as an escort, there would be talk if Mina went away for months and came back, still unmarried to her fiance.

"We'll have a real wedding," he promised her, "With the dress, and the pomp and the flowers and our families. When times are better and we're back home, I"ll give you everything you were denied when I took this job. Mina, I"m so sorry."

They were going home. It was all Mina could tell herself as she clutched his hand and stood in front of the priest with the wildflowers her mother had picked for the occasion.

She was now Mina Harker.

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The journey back was rough and not exactly the sort of honeymoon that Mina wanted for herself; stuck in a cramped train car reeking of body odor and cigarette smoke. She leaned on her husband's arm and stared out the window. Her back ached, and she had little sleep but she was going home. She had her mother, Jonathan was safe, they could all forget anything every happened.

"Darling?"

"Hm?" He asked as they were finally trudging towards London.

"Darling, will you tell me what happened there?"

She felt him go stiff, like he always did when she tried to ask, "No."

"Jonathan."

"You would think me mad," he told her, "If I told you the things I saw….or thought I saw. And the things I thought I saw were impossible, Mina. It was a result of my illness. That's all that it was. Whatever I contracted there in that place…in that land messed with my mind. It had to."

Mina watched him. She recognized doubt in his voice and his eyes He was saying it like he didn't really believe it. Like she was being told something he felt that she would want to hear.

"I should like it if one day you told me anyway."

"One day," he promised her and kissed her hair, "But not on a day where I'm desperately trying to distance myself from whatever it was that happened.

"I don't know how to comfort you," she confessed, "If I don't know what you faced."

"Trust me," he held her closer, "Just having you near me again, having you as my wife, it's a comfort."

But Mina wasn't so easily convinced.

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In the months that they'd been gone, Lucy settled on the future Lord Holmwood to be her husband. Mina was happy for her and the days that passed were soon filled with helping her friend prepare for the wedding. Lucy's own mother had died years ago and her father didn't understand such things. Mina and her own mother had taken it upon themselves to help get her ready.

Jonathan went back to work. She knew it was awkward in the office at first. They feared his law firm would no longer keep him. The journey to the count had been an unmitigated disaster. But somehow they managed to keep his job. He had lost quite a bit of trust but they knew they could not truly terminate a learned man for going to a recently formed country and getting ill with God knew what. Not when they all had refused to go see him when his 20 year old fiancé did more than them to fetch him back.

And not when they strong armed him to miss his wedding for something that nearly killed him.

"We need oranges," Mina told him as they walked through the market to get dinner for a few days, "I was also thinking perhaps we could have some stew, what do you think about that?"

"Certainly cold enough for it," he went to finger a book nearby, "Is that the French Book you used to have?"

"Yes, I sold it," Mina smiled at the man that was now at the book stand.

"You- why?"

"Bloody well can't get the language."

"My English speaking, German speaking, Gaelic and Latin speaking wife can't learn French? I thought it got easier the more languages you learn."

"It's bloody hard."

"You had it with you in Hungary, did you not?"

"I had loads of French Books with me in Hungary and it made the same amount of difference. If books and my mother can't teach me, I cannot possibly learn it." She had tried with her mother before books but her mother had told her it sounded like she was murdering the French Language. French was supposed to sound like an elegant waltz. Not the American version of the Square Dance

Jonathan gave her an amused look, "Perhaps another language, then?"

"Perhaps I'm done with languages for now and I'd rather find another skill to learn."

Jonathan brightened, the one thing Mina had insisted on in her husband is finding one that would not mind her educating herself through whatever means she had available to her. Her father had wanted it, she wanted it too. It wasn't the normal path for most women but her father always said he had an unconventional upbringing. He wanted any child of his educated. Women were just as smart as men, he said. Then he would refer to her mother and her mother would blush.

Mina wanted that relationship. She wanted a marriage like theirs and so it was a miracle that she found Jonathan.

"Perhaps Russian?" He raised an eyebrow, "Or Arabic?"

"Those are rough sounding languages, my mother would certainly think I got the rough sounding part put to perfection."

Jonathan gave a chuckle and kissed her cheek, "I love you"

"And I you."

"We shall have our wedding after Lucy's. A celebration that you deserve for everything you've done for me."

Mina stroked his face, "I'd like that, but I think we should wait a bit. There was still plenty to plan for our own and I was exhausted."

"Whatever you wish, I just want to make you happy."

"Perhaps we should make your bosses pay for it since they ruined our other one?" Mina went to look at some fabric that might serve as a dress to Lucy's wedding. When she didn't hear anything, she turned, "Jonathan?"

He was staring at something towards the park. Mina saw every muscle was coiled, like he was ready to run or attack or both. Mina was careful not to touch him, "Jonathan?"

He put his hand out, like he was blocking her from coming around to see what he was looking at. Mina could see he was shaking. She tried to see around her husband and there was a man standing there, staring at them. Mina blinked and tried to see who it was. She didn't recognize him. He was unremarkable to Mina; about six foot tall with light brown hair and incredibly sharp cheekbones. Mina felt a chill when he looked at her. His face was neutral but he had an intense look in his eyes. No matter the crowd, Mina knew he was staring dead center at her husband.

"Jonathan?" She asked, "Who is that?"

Her voice seemed to snap him out of it and he quickly grabbed her and went to move, "Leave it. Leave everything."

"But Jonathan who is that?"

"It can't be. It can't be, I'm hallucinating."

Mina was so confused as he rushed her through the market, "You're frightening me."

"We need to get home," Jonathan looked back fearfully. Mina looked back too.

But the man was gone.

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Jonathan had refused to go to work the next day. He called in John Seward to check on him quietly, to avoid scandal. John stayed with them for the night to make sure he was lucid. Whatever he thought he'd seen, he now wondered if he was mistaken.

"I think maybe it's time you were honest with me," Mina told him that night as they got ready for bed.

Jonathan glanced at her and then looked back down, "Yes. I believe you're right."

Mina looked over to him and waited. Jonathan sat on the edge of the bed with the pillow in his hands. I saw….that man in the park, you saw him, yes?"

"I did."

Jonathan looked away, "It was the Count I went to see in Transylvania."

Mina tilted her head, "Alright? Perhaps he knew you'd gotten ill and he came to make certain you were alright."

"Then why didn't he approach us?" Jonathan demanded, "And why did he look younger? He was an old man when I was in Transylvania "

Mina had no answers, she had no information, she just went to embrace him, "Jonathan, it's alright."

He sobbed, "Am I going mad again?"

Mina wrapped ar arms around him and pulled him close, "It's alright, it's alright. We're going to be alright."

Mina didn't know if she believed him or this was a further part of his illness. But that night Mina barricaded the door so they could sleep and feel safe.

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A week passed. Jonathan didn't sleep unless the door was barricaded, but he went to work again. Mina went to work as well, watching over some new twins she got a job doing after having to give up her job to go to Hungary.

Jonathan didn't like her working still, but Mina told him she would stop after she got pregnant. She would take every precaution when she was pregnant. Her mother had a difficult pregnancy with her, her grandmother had died in childbirth….it was rough business being a mother. But until then, Mina would work to bring in extra money. What else did she have to do?

The end of the week, Mina had gotten news that Lucy was cancelling their lunch for Saturday. Mina immediately bundled up and went to see what was wrong. Lucy never turned down lunch. She could eat so much and it never showed. What was her secret, Mina would never know.

"Mina," Lucy's father greeted her when she knocked, "I trust you got the news that Lucy's unwell."

"I knew she cancelled, I didn't know she was unwell."

"She's taken to bed, she's dizzy," He said, "If you'd like to see her, you can, but she's sleeping."

Mina thanked him and went upstairs to see her sleeping friend. Mina tucked her in gently and went to sit down by her bedside.

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Sometime during all this, Mina fell asleep. When she woke up, it'd gotten dark and the bed was empty, "Lucy?"

She stood up and went to check the time. It was late at night, Jonathan was going to be worried, she better get home after she found her friend. Lucy was probably downstairs eating since she'd missed lunch and dinner.

But she wasn't downstairs. Mina found Jonathan sound asleep in a chair though, covered by a blanket.

The front doors were open.

Mina pulled on her coat, grabbed Lucy's shawl and went outside.

It was foggy, Mina couldn't see very far in front of her as she walked down the steps. She should awaken Jonathan but the gate wasn't open, she hadn't gotten far. Mina turned towards the gardens kept on the side.

There was a bench there, through the thick fog, Mina could see the white of Lucy's gown.

Something else was there. Something was on top of her. Mina's blood ran cold as she swore whatever was on top of her was thrusting.

 _Oh God._

It was a mistake, it had to be. The gate was locked, nothing could get in. It was a trick of the fog.

Mina blinked hard, she shook her head to clear out the exhaustion she felt and looked again

There was nothing on top of Lucy. She was sleeping on the bench. The gown she could have sworn was bunched at her thighs was down to her ankles. Nothing had been attacking her. It was a trick of the fog.

Mina grabbed the coat and went to wrap it around her friend, "Lucy! Lucy wake up."

"Wha-?" Her friend was drowsy as she went to sit up, "What happened?"

"You were sleepwalking, my friend. You must be REALLY ill if you're doing that again," Mina helped her up. She went to secure a shawl around her and pinned it to keep her warm.

She got her inside, something caught her eye. Mina looked closer on her friend's throat and saw two puncture wounds by the pin, Did Mina hurt her while pinning the shawl? Surely she would have noticed something like sticking her friend.

Mina took Lucy to bed and tucked her in.

"What happened?" Lucy asked blearily again.

"You were sleepwalking," Mina told her for the second time.

"Something hurt me."

"I think it was me, love. Sorry," Mina told her and tried to forget the trick in the fog.

"Something else," Lucy's words slurred and she closed her eyes, "So tired."

"Don't worry, my friend. You'll be over this in no time." Mina sat with her until she was in bed again and then went back downstairs to her husband.

This happened a week after he saw that man in the park.

Mina brushed her husband's brown hair back from his neck, a curiosity more than anything but she had to be sure.

He was a hard sleeper, she and no worry about awakening him as she took the light closer so she could see.

Not two marks, but multiple. Faded and nearly gone if one didn't know how to look.

And while Mina didn't know what might cause such a thing, she started to wonder if her husband's gibberish about a demon in the castle and gypsies might hold some truth after all.

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Lucy did not get better, she got worse. Doctors were called in, who told them that Lucy was growing paler and weaker because she was losing blood somewhere. They all gave for her transfusion; Mina, her mother, Lucy's father, Jonathan and the three beaus in Lucy's life all gave. Sometimes life would spring in her cheeks…only to be gone the next day.

While Mina tended her friend, the men used their own resources to find someone who might be able to help. Some men answered, some examined her but they were as baffled as the rest of them were.

Finally one man came in who might be able to help. Abraham Van Helsing; a German (her father would proudly note if he were here). He was about mid thirties, with dark hair brown hair and blue eyes, he had a brilliant smile when he introduced himself. Mina imagined he would be the charmer of most women should the circumstances be different.

"Mina, Van Helsing is an expert in many areas of study, quite an accomplishment for someone his age," Mina heard her husband say. Mina wondered at the awe in his voice, perhaps Abraham and Jonathan were about to run off together.

"Yes, in medicine and diseases but Im also studied up in old folklore and have connections in ancient texts and maladies and all sorts of things that might come with it."

Mina looked at her husband at that last part, "What's that mean?"

"I'm not even sure," Jonathan whispered.

"I'll need to run some tests," Van Helsing told them, "Can you give us some time alone, if you don't mind?"

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Van Helsing ran his tests, he did his transfusions, he sent out his letters and they did thier best to keep Lucy alive while they waited for replies.

Whatever replies he got back had Jonathan, Van Helsing, and Lucy's father and beaus arguing in the study while Mina shut herself away with her friend.

"Such loud voices," Lucy groaned

"They'll settle down soon, they always do," Mina propped her up.

Lucy watched her, "Have you learned French, yet?"

"Threw it away, learning Russian instead."

"I think you should consider Mandarin too."

"Maybe. Maybe I'll learn medicine."

Lucy's face crowded with guilt, "You've seen enough of it lately."

"That's not your fault," Mina brushed her friend's hair back.

"Isn't it? I could fight."

"You are fighting," Mina promised her.

Lucy's eyes teared up, "He hasn't come back in a couple of days, perhaps it's over."

Mina took her friend's hand, "Lucy, no one's been here except our family."

"No, not them, he comes at night."

"No one comes at night, Lucy. I'm here with you the whole time."

"You don't know, you can't see."

"See what?" Mina started to panic a little inside. Something stirred in her gut as she remembered all that had happened that first night.

The voices outside grew to fever pitch, Mina looked over absentmindedly. What were they arguing about?

"It's okay," Lucy said with a serene smile, "He hasn't come back, it's finally over. I'll be fine. And you and I will go to market again and squabble over prices and read and learn. We will be wives and mothers. Maybe our children will even marry."

Mina felt tears father in her eyes. Was it over? Whatever this was? "I should like that."

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Lucy died that night. Mina shut herself up in her own room at her own house, so devastated and ill that she couldn't even attend her friend's funeral

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It was like being a ghost, unable to feel anything but numbness as she moved about the house. She took to bed for awhile. That just led to dreams of having Lucy back. Mina got out of bed, went to work and did her things around the house. But the passion was gone, her best friend was dead. Lucy had been like a sister to her all throughout her life. Mina had always wanted a sibling when she was little. When her mother was unable to have another, Lucy filled that place in her life. For Mina and her mother. Lucy had been there for everything; every rant about her parents, she'd been there for Lucy when her mum died, Lucy had been there when her father disappeared….

And now she was gone.

Lucy would never be married. She'd never see Mina have her own ceremony. She would never be Lady Holmwood, and have future lords and ladies of her own.

Mina curled up staring out the window as her husband slept beside her.

She needed to sleep. A deep dreamless sleep that she wouldn't wake up from until morning. No dreams about Lucy, no dreams about her husband or father….just the perfect sleep.

Mina dropped off for awhile, it was more of a doze but it was better than nothing,. As long as she got some sort of rest, she could survive tomorrow.

Then her body went rigid, she opened her eyes.

Someone was in the room. Mina heard her husband snoring beside her and she knew it wasn't Jonathan awake.

She went to gently shake him so as not to alert the intruder. Jonathan didn't move. She shook him harder and whispered his name, "Jonathan?"

The hair on the back of her neck stood up. She slowly turned over to see a figure standing over her.

"Please," she whispered and shook her husband harder, "We have nothing to take."

"There is little cause for that," he went to turn on the lamp, "He will not awaken."

The light filled the room. Mina sat up with a start when she saw it was the man in the park, the same one she saw all that time back before Lucy got sick.

Whatever he'd done, he came for her now.

Mina tried to scramble away from him, a scream started in her throat. If she couldn't alert Jonathan, she could alert SOMEONE that might save her.

The man grabbed her, Mina flinched at his cold hands. He grabbed her face and forced her to look at him, "Be quiet."

Her eyes met his dead brown ones. There was nothing there. No mercy, no compassion. She felt like the lamb staring at the wolf she knew would devour her.

She couldn't scream. No matter how much she wanted to, how much her brain wanted to make her, she couldn't scream or talk.

She went to move away again. The man grabbed her ankles and dragged her back. Her legs went to either side of his hips. Mina fought harder, suddenly realizing that night in the garden was all too real.

But he didn't violate her. Not that way at least. She watched in fear as the canines in his teeth grew. She shook her head, eyes pleading him not to hurt her. Either he didn't see it or he didn't care. But he went for her neck. His teeth punctured her skin and Mina now knew what caused the holes.

Tears fell down her eyes as he drank her blood. She went to try and struggle again but he used inhuman strength to hold her still. What sort of demon was this that needed blood to survive? She didn't understand.

She started to grow dizzy, and he pulled back. MIna wanted ask him why but nothing would leave her lips.

He didn't see any need to provide any reasoning himself, as he unbuttoned the top two buttons of his shirt. Mina panicked again and went to move away.

"You are going to dr-," he stopped, "Look at me."

Mina kept her eyes closed.

"If you do not look at me and drink, I will kill your husband."

Mina sobbed and opened her eyes. He'd cut his shoulder. Blood welled in the cut.

Dracula pulled her up in a sitting position. She was mentally begging. She still had the choice to refuse but he would take that away from her once she tried to fight back.

So she drank to protect her husband. She gagged at the taste, coppery blood filled her mouth but she consumed it. When she felt she might faint, he forced her mouth open to make sure she'd taken his blood and then let her fall back on the bed.

He may not have violated her but she felt incredibly violated none the less.

He buttoned his shirt, "Look at me."

Mina felt herself do so.

HIs eyes met hers, "You will not speak about this to anyone. Like your friend before you, you are mine. We are bound together by blood and nothing will ever change that.

And then he was gone.

Mina had her voice back by morning but it meant nothing. No matter how much she wanted to tell her waking husband what had happened to her, she couldn't. It's like the words were taken out of her mouth before they could form.

Jonathan thought her taking to bed sobbing was just a bad turn. He had absolutely no reason to doubt otherwise.

Dracula came every night after that. It did not take long for Mina to fall ill from the loss of blood as well.

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There was bloody panic when Mina was dizzy and started sleeping all the time. She grew pale and lethargic. Jonathan went into a rage. He screamed at Van Helsing, Van Helsing screamed back and it would frequently dissolve into a debate in another area of the house far away from Mina.

Her mother came, with red eyes and a puffy face. They didn't know what had killed Lucy, and Mina couldn't tell them. There was no cure. Mina would die too.

Her mother was by her side constantly. She brushed her hair back, brushed her forehead with a wet rag, and fed her things she used to feed her as a child.

"Fight, love," Her mother whispered, "Fight hard. I cannot possibly lose you too."

Jonathan withdrew. All of them but Van Helsing were rarely in the room with her to talk. Mina was nervous, she didn't know what was going on. She tried to ask, but Van Helsing or Jonathan (When he was in there) told her she should focus on getting well.

But how could she? They gave her transfusions and those days were when Dracula came. She tried to fight him off for awhile but he overpowered her. Soon she just gave up. It was over faster if she let him drink and then consumed his own blood without putting up a struggle.

One night, Jonathan wasn't home. Her mother was asleep down the hallway. Mina had been told Jonathan was with Van Helsing trying to find a cure, they were seeing an old acquaintance to get answers. Her mother had tried to make it sound like she had hope but her eyes gave it away. She was giving up. If they couldn't save Lucy, her mother had doubts that they may save Mina. She wasn't giving herself hope that may be crushed later.

Dracula came later that night. Jonathan still wasn't there. Mina winced as he bit into her neck. Her eyes went to the ceiling, waiting for it to be over.

The door was kicked open. Dracula stopped and looked up.

It was Jonathan and Van Helsing, covered in blood but they were there.

Jonathan held up a revolver, "Get away from my wife."

Dracula screeched.

Jonathan fired three times. Each one hitting Dracula in the chest. He flew back from the impact and hit the wall. The monster let out a shriek and went through the window. Mina's arms went over her head instinctively.

Mina heard her mother's pounding feet.

And that's when Mina finally had her voice to start screaming in terror over everything that happened to her.

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They had lied when it came to Mina's mother. They told her that it was an intruder that attacked Mina while she was sleeping. She went into full blown mother mode, she checked on Mina and then waited until daylight to storm the streets with every constable she could find and her brothers. Mina gave a description, surely they might be able to find someone terrorizing a sick woman.

Mina refused to lay in that bed every again. She ripped her nightgown off, grabbed thier bedding and threw it in the fire.

She drew a bath and scrubbed herself raw. Jonathan was by her side, the whole time. She was dizzy and weak. She could fall and hurt herself but she didn't care. She didn't care if she fell and busted her head open, Jonathan knew, she could tell him.

When she was bathed, she fixed her hair, dressed, made herself look presentable and came back into the parlor. Her husband was already there with Van Helsing. Her mother wasn't back yet. Thank God. Mina didn't want to have to tell her mother yet. She didn't want to. She didn't even want to talk about it with her husband but they had to.

Mina sat across from her husband. They stared at each other for a few moments, "I'm so sorry, Mina."

Mina was shaking as she looked at him, "Where WERE you?"

Jonathan looked at Van Helsing. Van Helsing came to sit with both of them, "Mrs. Harker….I know this is going to be hard for you to hear. And I know what you've experienced is very difficult for you to talk about. So we won't ask for you to talk about it, I think we're all aware of what you've been thorugh."

"He drank my blood," she whispered, "He bit my neck and he drank my blood."

Van Helsing leaned over, eyes sympathetic, "Mina, you don't have to say it. But you can nod. Has he made you drink his blood?"

He knew?

Mina felt every part of her body grow tense. She closed her eyes and nodded.

Mina heard Jonathan curse, stand up and go to stand by the fireplace.

"This isn't good," Vna Helsing muttered, "And he kept you from talking?"

MIna nodded.

"How long?"

"Two weeks."

Jonathan sobbed and ran a hand through her hair. Lucy had gone through longer but Dracula took more with her. That's why she'd gone downhill so fast.

"The process is already taking place," VAn Helsing whispered, "We have to kill Dracula."

Mina looked over towards her husband, "Is that his name?"

Jonathan nodded.

"How can we possibly kill him? He's so fast. He's so strong," Mina shook her head, "He can make people not talk about things. He forced me to be quiet, he made Jonathan sleep!"

"We have to try."

"What's going to happen if we don't?"

A thick silence filled the air. Jonathan stared at the fireplace for a few moments, "You'd be like him."

Mina felt her stomach clench. She barely made it to a nearby bucket before dry heaving. It was unladylike to do it in front of them, and it was stupid to think about but she already had every other dignity stripped away.

"Will killing him stop it?"

"We don't know. These undead…..these demons, there's little text about them and the things we have are maybe false."

Something dawned on Mina, something she didn't want to think about, "Lucy."

Both men stopped. Neither one would look at her.

"If I'm to turn into him and I had the same symptoms that she did…." Mina was already exhausted, she wanted to go to bed and never think about this again, "Was she like him? Or did she die before that happened?"

"Death is the final step."

Mina was thankful she didn't have anything left in her belly, "So she's like him?"

"Not anymore."

Mina looked up, hope started to spread in her that Lucy was cured…until she saw thier faces, "What did you do?"

"We had no choice."

"WHT DID YOU DO?" She screamed, "YOU KNEW WHAT SHE WAS."

"I had to run my tests. I didn't even know what she was until I got the confirmation. By then it was too late."

Tears fell down Mina's cheeks, "Like with me."

"No. Not like with you. With you, we might have a chance."

"How? We're at a complete disadvantage."

"Because Mina, the blood bond creates a link. You're bound together through your minds. You can see what he does and if we're very lucky, we can block him from seeing you"

"What happened to Lucy?" Mina demanded again.

Van Helsing started to open his mouth, but Jonathan held his hand up, "We tried to save her, we tried to look for him. Her link to him was why we discussed things out of the room. We tried but it did little good, it was all too late. She was turning. Then we got word that dogs and people were disappearing in the cemetery after we put her in the mausoleum.."

Mina put her hand over her mouth and closed her eyes.

"We got John, Arthur, and Quincey together with us, knowing what we had to do. We found her drinking from a child….Mina. There wasn't any of Lucy left. She attacked us. It took all of us to try and subdue her."

"And where are the three of them?"

Jonathan's silence was her answer. They'd been overpowered. All three of them were probably dead.

And that's what she faced doing to these two, and even her mother if she wasn't stopped."

"We need to go to Romania at once," Van Helsing said.

"How do we know he'll go back there then?" Mina demanded

"He did not survive this long facing his enemies head on, now that we know he's in England, he'll flee."

"When do we go?" Mina asked.

"I'll have to make arrangements."

"Then make them," Mina stood unsteadily, "I won't sit here wasting away where my mother can see."

Her husband reached out to steady her. Mina jerked away, "Don't touch me."

"Mina," he whispered.

"You've kept all this from me."

"I wanted to protect you."

"You haven't," she sobbed, "You just made me suffer the same fate. You kept things from me, you told me NOTHING."

"Was I to tell you your best friend, your childhood sister, was turning to a demon and we were too late? Was I to tell you we had to kill her? Was I supposed to put that on you?!"

"You could have told me that you knew what was happening to me! You could've let me know."

"We weren't even completely sure ourselves until we saw what Lucy was and what she did to Arthur, John and Quincy!"

"Bloody hell," Mina swore and went to leave, "You could have told me SOMETHING."

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Mina didn't see either man for the rest of the day. She took the second guest room to sleep in. Her mother asked what had happened but Mina refused to tell her. She couldn't face her mother and tell her what happened, she was still dirty and used and ashamed.

Her best friend had been turned a demon.

She was next.

And her husband bloody had an idea about it and didn't tell her. These days of feeling isolated and scared may have been easier if he'd told her. They didn't know for sure, what did that have to do with anything? They had to have some idea.

Jonathan waited until dark to come into the room with her. She lay with her back facing away from him. She heard him undress for the night and sat on the edge of the bed. He let out a breath of air and cleared his throat.

"When I left you behind to go to Romania, I was warned by the villagers not to go to the castle. I should've headed back by then but I was foolish. I thought myself an educated man who wanted to prove myself worthy to my superiors and to you. When I got into the castle, it was practically derelict. The Count was old and there was no one there. I was given the most cared for room in the castle and fed me. The Count spoke broken English, he asked me about everything; he asked me about the country, he asked me about my family and he asked me about you. I should never have said anything, if I knew it'd lead to this…all of this-."

He ran his hand through his hair and cried.

"One night, while getting ready for bed, I saw the demon crawling up a wall. Bloody hell, the sight of him scurrying up was enough to terrify anyone. I thought it was a dream. It had to be. How else could there be an explanation? Then one night, I cut myself shaving."

Mina shuddered, knowing the demon craved blood.

"He attacked me. Not at full strength, I managed to fight him off but then I knew I needed to escape. I went wandering one day, since he was never around much during the day and I got lost. I stumbled into a female chamber with three women. They tried to seduce me but Mina, I swear I was loyal to you. Dracula came in, he chased them off and he threw something squirming in the bag. Mina…I think it was a baby."

Mina closed her eyes tightly and turned away.

"There were gypsies living on the property. I was locked in my room after the incident with the wives. I wasn't given food and barely given water. I think…I think he _fed_ on me. When I saw the gypsies I pleaded for help but they only laughed. The only reason I got away was because a young man took pity and let me out. I took off into the night. But that thing….I swear he chased me all the way to Hungary, no matter how fast I went, I could swear he was right behind me. By the time I made it across the border, I was mad with exhaustion, hunger and thirst. Then, no one believed me. I told myself I imagined it but I never believed it. I let you believe that I caught an illness. I let you….I let myself believe seeing him again was an illness returning. I let you handle Lucy dying by yourself without telling you the truth because I was afraid you couldn't handle the truth. I let you endure what he did to you because I was scared what it could mean. I didn't protect you. I couldn't protect you. I'm so so sorry, Mina."

Mina could be mad at him, she SHOULD be. He had underestimated her, he'd gone back on the one thing that Mina had wanted. He hadn't seen her as an equal.

But she needed him, she knew WHY he'd done it. Dracula wanted to drive them apart, she couldn't let that happen. This was what he wanted.

So she went to comfort him. He wrapped his arms around her tightly, apologizing over and over again.

They made love that night, for the first time in weeks. Minas' strength was fading but she didn't care, she needed this and she needed him.

"I love you," they whispered to the other, over and over again. And when they lay there exhausted, holding each other, they burst into tears.

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The journey was even longer than the last one, The seas were treacherous, the winds barely allowed them to sail.

And Mina was starting to get thirsty. She constantly drank water but nothing could quench it. Then Mina started noticing things she could hear. A slight pounding that she didn't detect at first until her husband was making love to her and she realized the sound she was hearing was in sync with the beating of his heart against her. She could hear heartbeats now. It wouldn't be long before she could crave blood.

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They took a small inn when they reached the border of Transylvania. Van Helsing, Jonathan and Mina left their things in the room and went for a walk. It was light out, Mina felt weak but they were convinced the fresh air would do her some good. She was stronger at night and that worried them.

Their heartbeats were all Mina could hear. She could smell the warmth of their blood. She didn't tell Jonathan, she just told Van Helsing. He'd taken his notes and simply told Jonathan to stop shaving. If Mina was slowly become what Lucy was then she absolutely could not be near exposed blood.

They spent the day by the lake, waiting for the train set to leave in the morning. They were running out of time. What happened if she died before they got there? True, Dracula hadn't touched her since they caught him. His goal, whatever it might be was already done. Just in case though, Mina wore charms around her neck that would hopefully repel him and hide her end of the psychic connection.

Mina was not in control of it, but when she could see through his eyes. But when she did, she made use of it. Once she saw him staring at a map and schedule and used it to confirm that he was going home and how they might avoid him.

They weren't anywhere near ready to face him. And doing it outsideh is country could mean a death sentence to all of them since he was royalty.

Though Mina wasn't sure they'd be any more ready when they arrived at his castle.

When they got back, the inn was quiet and empty. It was getting dark, none thought much of it. Mina held her husband's hand as they walked towards the room all three were sharing to hide the number in thier group.

The door was open.

"Bloody hell," Mina let out. She took the revolver she kept on her person now. Jonathan and Van Helsing eased the door open.

The room was ripped apart. The bed was destroyed, their clothes were shredded.

And the books and notes and letters they all took for research was missing from the safe.

He knew they were there.

Mina went to lock the door. Jonathan started pulling up the floorboards. Van Helsing lay down the charms meant to keep him away from them.

"He took our things, which means something very obvious," Van Helsing took out the copies of everything they had made before arriving off the boat, "he thinks we might know how to kill him."

Mina went to sit down, "I imagine we'll need a second look then."

"Clever idea, you," Van Helsing complimented, "Thinking to make the copies."

Mina pulled the shawl around herself. She'd read the books and letters backwards and forwards. It looked like they were about to have another round in hopes they didn't miss anything they could have.

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The castle on the hill was dark and foreboding, Mina stared up at it as she stood with her husband. She was exhausted. Dracula was trying to see through her eyes and it was a constant battle to block him

Jonathan stood with her for a few moments and kissed her cheek. Mina closed her eyes tightly at the smell of his blood so close to her nose and mouth. One taste, something….anything to quench the burning in her throat. Bloody hell, she might die of thirst!

No, that wasn't how it worked. She wouldn't die, and she couldn't drink. Once she drank, it was over. There would be no saving her.

"Mina cannot go into the castle," Van Helsing lay a circle of garlic and charms around her, "He's old, he's powerful. The pull will be too great. I fear any closer and we may lose her."

"But you cannot go in by yourselves," Mina whispered and looked at the four men they had recruited from nearby villages who had lost loved ones to Dracula, "They aren't even warriors."

"None of us are." Jonathan reminded her and gave her a stake, "But you will be safe in here."

Mina nodded.

"We must hurry, the sun sets and he grows more powerful."

Jonathan pulled closer. Mina's hand clenched as his smell overpowered her. HIs blood smelled like water. One might not believe it had a scent but it did when someone was thirsty enough.

"There's something I must tell you when all this is over," Mina whispered.

He rubbed her face, "When this is over, I'll give you anything you want."

She took his hand in both of hers and kissed it. The pulse in his wrist pounded in her ears. She hesitated.

Van Helsing saw it as well and started forward, "We must go."

"I love you, Mina."

"I love you too"

He gave her a passionate kiss. Mina fisted her hands in his hair but finally let him go.

They went to the castle together.

And Mina was alone

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The wives came first. Mina was watching the setting sun, pacing her little charmed circle when they entered off the path.

The head one was blonde haired and blue eyed, she was the oldest. Following her was a redhead with brown eyes that reminded Mina of Lucy. The youngest physically was a woman with dark skin and curly long hair.

"Sister," The older one, the leader, whispered, "Come to us."

Mina felt her knees go out from under her, she couldn't, no matter what happened, she couldn't go, "Go to hell."

The woman's eyes darkened, she stepped forward, "You will have nothing to go back to. You're one of us now."

She knelt down with a covered chalice. Mina didn't need to guess to know that was human blood inside there.

"Drink."

Mina felt fangs descent through her gums. She dug her hands through the dirt, trying to hold on to something…anything.

So…thirsty….

The thing inside her now, the thing taking her over won out. Mina raced for the chalice, only to be repelled back by the circle Van Helsing had put around her. A growl left her lips that didn't sound human.

The leader took in this situation, "Well then."

"Why," Mina whispered, trying to fight for control of these animal instincts back, "Why Lucy? Why me?"

The leader tilted her head, "It's rude to question a gift. Why not you?"

"You're insane."

"In time, you will see that you've ascended. These mortal bonds that hold you down, this mortal man you're wedded to, it all will mean nothing in the end. By the end of their lives, most people will only effect the dirt in the ground moved to bury them. Wouldn't you like something more? A chance to learn? A chance to see a generation in which someone with our sex will be more important than we are now?"

Mina closed her eyes. Her whole body wanted her to go through the circle. She might if she could. It was too strong, she was dead already.

But then Jonathan flashed in her mind, laying there in the hospital bed. She saw her mother, sick with worry. She saw Lucy wasting away.

And in one final sliver of defiance, she raised her head up and sent a glob of spit her way.

The leader flinched, rage crossed her face as she wiped it from her brow

"It seems you still have things you need to learn," the leader whispered and went to move away.

Mina rested her forehead against the ground and screamed angrily.

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He came next.

The wind died down before he came. Any sound of nature stopped. The world got very still. The hairs on the back of Mina's neck stood up.

He stepped into view, eyes admiring her.

Mina trembled in fear as she stared at her abuser. No, no, no, no, no.

"You've come home," he said as a matter of factly.

"You killed Lucy."

"Your husband killed her, not I. I simply could not retrieve her to bring her home with us in time."

"You ravaged her."

"I did not do anything that she didn't want done," he pulled out the same chalice that the wife had brought out. He put it right outside the circle, "I know you're in need. What they've done to you is nothing but pure torture. You are ascending, they should be happy for you."

Mina tried to block him out, she shut her eyes and rested her head on the ground. If she could smell the grass and the dirt, then she couldn't smell the blood.

"Instead they put charms on you to limit you, they trap you in a cage, they deny you the thing that would make you far more powerful than they are. Men fear a powerful woman and in time they will fear you. And you will grow to enjoy that pain and fear. You only have but to drink."

'No"

"I know this little measly wall holds you back, but such things can be easily dealt with." He lit a torch, held it far away from his face, "Mina, you're coming home. This may not seem like a good thing now, but it will be."

He went to put it towards the circle keeping her safe.

A shot rang out.

Jonathan, her savior stood there with a gun out, "I'll ask you again to stay away from my wife."

Dracula raced towards him, Jonathan threw holy water in Dracula's eyes, which apparently stung. He stumbled back. Jonathan swung his sword, catching Dracula in the neck. Mina flinched as blood spurted out in the dirt.

The demon's head jerked. His eyes darkened. Mina knew what was coming as Jonathan drew back to hit him again.

Dracula grabbed the blade with one hand. He bent it so hard it snapped.

Mina screamed as Dracula grabbed a fistful of hair.

Jonathan tried to slam the broken blade into Dracula's chest.

But Dracula, the demon he was, was faster, he ripped into Jonathan's neck. Jonathan's painful scream was reduced to a gurgle, and he fell as Dracula consumed him.

Mina couldn't stop screaming.

He pulled back, mouth covered in blood. The animal in him showed through his eyes. He crawled over to her on all four limbs, gaze never leaving her. Mina scrambled back. If he broke that circle, she knew she'd go for what was left of Jonathan. The final insult to him for marrying her. Mina would not be able to fight it.

The gash in his neck was starting to close now that he'd taken blood. Mina sobbed, he couldn't be defeated. He never would.

He reached for the torch, his hand closed over the wood.

Van Helsing raced down from the castle. He looked terrible, his clothes were ripped, he was covered in bitemarks and blood. Clumps of his hair were missing. In his hand there was a torch all his own. He took in the situation as Dracula turned at the sight of blood.

He threw the torch. It hit Dracula, and the flames spread.

Mina watched as he lifted the torch Dracula was about to use, and used the pointed in as a stake, driving it in his chest. Mina turned away at the brutality, her eyes found her husband's, staring at her.

She heard Van Helsing hack Dracula's They would burn the body. They would spread the ashes in a nearby crossroad. That was everything they could find on how to kill a vampire as old as Dracula. It had to work. There was no other way.

When the monster was dead, Mina felt the bloodlust start to sleep away. It was like slipping into a warm bath after a cold frigid day. But other than that, she felt nothing, he was dead. Her bloodlust was gone.

There was nothing else. It was all for nothing. Jonathan was dead.

"Oh God, Mina."

Mina found herself able to move past the circle that was previously protecting her. She knew standing wouldn't happen, not with her husband dead a few feet away. Instead she crawled to him, begging him to give any indication he was alive.

But she knew better.

She watched him a few moments, she smoothed his hair back.

"I'm sorry," she sobbed, lay next to him, and wrapped her arms around him.

This was her fault.

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There was nothing for Mina now. He'd taken it all; her best friend, her own innocence, her husband, her friends, he'd taken everything.

And for what? Mina would never know. It was a victory, sure He was dead. He would never hurt anyone the way he'd hurt her and Lucy and at least three other women. There were probably countless others for all she knew.

Van Helsing got her back through the trains and the ship to England. He got them first class, he gave Mina her own space and some new clothes.

But Mina just lay in bed all day, going over everything in her mind. The only time she got out of bed was when she felt pain lancing between her legs and a flow of blood.

The thing she wanted to tell Jonathan didn't matter anymore. She'd lost the last thing of him she could possibly have.

Dracula now was responsible for the death of her baby too.

Mina could only feel exhaustion and numbness. After all this, Mina doubted she'd ever be well enough to be a good mum anyway. Not when she knew what was out there.

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 **Present Day**

Archie had listened several times as Mina went into long periods of silence. But he knew she was done finally when she finished talking about the loss of her first child and went into complete silence.

He looked up, unsure of how to comfort her. She didn't seem to want it. She wanted to tell her story to someone in case she couldn't tell it later.

He pressed the 'stop' on the record and took off his glasses. Mina sat across from him. Her eyes red and splotchy. She looked tired and drained.

"Wow," he sighed, "That's a lot to have happened."

"It's just the beginning. But Lizzie doesn't need to know that," she looked at him, "I haven't told the full story for a very long time."

"And how did that feel?"

"Exhausting," she admitted, " and….Cathartic."

"Would you like to come back?"

"Soon," Mina told him, "Lizzie will need to know about her father. I'm still trying to figure out everything I need to tell her about him. I just need to rest. A long rest really. I need time to think."

"I'll always be here."

"Thank you," Mina stood, "For everything."

"What should I do with the tapes?"

"Hide them," Mina looked over, "When he gets his strength back, he'll look for them like he stole the letters and books. I don't want to have to relive this again."

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It was getting dark when Mina left the therapist's office. She couldn't believe she'd been there all day but there was a bloody lot to get off her chest. There was more she had to say, so much more. For Lizzie's knowledge and for her own conscience when the tapes were turned off. She needed to say it in a professional environment, where she wasn't judged or demeaned or diagnosed.

Bloody hell, things had changed.

She saw the yellow bug as she descended the steps. Emma saw her and got out of the car.

Mina looked at the funny horseless carriage, "How long have you been here?"

"I was looking for you in the morning but one of the dwarves said you were here. So I parked and waited."

"Why?" Mina was confused.

"Because I left you in that bar when you told me about the vampiric children. And I shouldn't have done that. I just needed time to think, I"m sorry."

"I'm sorry I snapped at you," Mina told her again.

Emma went to embrace her. Mina shifted teh baby on her hip and hugged her back.

"Lets go home," Emma whispered.


	6. S004E06- The Resurrection of Dracula

The first thing Snow woke up to, like she always did every morning these days was her baby fussing, like he did every three to four hours a night. That was an improvement in her eyes. It used to be every two hours between whatever time it took for her and Charming to get the baby back to sleep.

No wonder Emma took Henry and went to stay with Mr. Gold for awhile. Snow knew that she had made the right wish when she'd wanted a new house for all of them to live in with walls ….and turrets.

Then everything had happened and they never got back around to it.

Emma had surprised them when she came home last night with Mina and her baby in tow. Emma had felt it was safe now that they had Alina behind bars. With her in captivity, Dracula would have to come out. He was weaker. He had to be if Alina was still doing blood runs for him. That meant for now Alina couldn't come after Mina, and with no target on her back, Emma felt it was alright to bring her near her parents and her brother.

Henry had come by for dinner, then he went back to the Gold house to spend the night with his dad. It was only fair, he spent the previous night with Regina.

This co-parenting thing was hard to figure out. Snow had every confidence that Emma had it under control. Being a referee between her former boyfriend and her son's other mother paled in comparison to what else she'd been through.

She eased the baby out of the crib and opened her shirt to feed him. Without Henry here, she didn't bother with a blanket. She didn't even know where it was currently. Charming had tossed it somewhere when he was feeding Robert for the evening. Snow hadn't tracked it to see where it'd gone.

There was a quiet thudding down the stairs. Snow looked up to see their guest creeping down the stairs, "Checking on things?"

"I heard a noise," Mina shifted, the hide the gun that Snow knew was probably tucked in her waistband, "It's a bit paranoid."

"I'm sure the things you've gone through, you have every right to be," Snow said. She hadn't spent a lot of time with Mina. She wasn't sure what to make of her. Emma liked her. She'd saved Red's life. However, she'd pulled a gun on Regina, and shot her own friend like it was nothing. If she didn't think much of Regina, she probably wouldn't think much of Snow's faith in Regina's turning or her own ideals in redemption and hope.

"Might I have some juice, please?" Mina asked.

"Go ahead, you know where the glasses are?"

Mina nodded and went to pour herself a glass, "Do you want one?"

"No, I"m not very thirsty."

Mina poured herself some and went to sit at the table with Snow.

"Can't sleep?" Snow asked.

"I never sleep well anymore," Mina admitted.

Baby Robert fussed, Snow went to adjust him. Mina watched as she pressed the baby against her chest to nurse from her other breast.

"Sometimes they like hearing heartbeats."

"I try that but it doesn't always work."

Mina turned the glass in her hand and stared at it thoughtfully, "Lizzie used to go to sleep when I sang a German lullaby."

"I don't know German."

"I don't know French but I singe Frère Jacques to her sometimes," Mina told her, "Or attempting to sing Frère Jacques."

Snow shifted the baby, "I just….I just don't know how to do these things. I never had any siblings and Emma-"

She hesitated. Her eyes teared up as she remembered the pain she felt when she saw her daughter taken away by Charming to be saved and the sadness in Emma's eyes when they met again. Everything that she missed always stared her in the face when she looked at her children. How did Emma have to feel? Knowing her brother would have everything that she didn't, "…..I'm sure you've been told about that."

Mina watched her, "I've heard things."

"From Emma."

"I don't push Emma for her past. I learned from others. This whole Dark Curse is unprecedented, I needed to know the territory. It came with a lot of stories."

"I see," Snow said and looked down at her son.

Mina glanced over, "Indeed."

Snow sat there until the baby was done, "What's your relationship with Emma?"

Mina tensed, "I feel this is a loaded question."

"You know, you two just seem….close…not that there's anything wrong with that, you know. Our world is far more open to it than this one."

Mina's eyes grew, "You think that-."

"Well she did leave with you. To a room…with walls…"

"God's breath," Mina rubbed her temples, "We are not romantic. We just…we understand each other. We trust each other. I am not the one she has eyes for."

"I'm not entirely sure about that…."

"I come with far too much baggage. The last thing Emma needs is more of that. I"m also not sure you'd be enthused with a hunter for your daughter's intended. Our ideals would not match up."

"You'd think I"m naive."

"I don't think you're naive."

"Even in my faith in Regina."

Mina stopped and tried to think of the best way she could phrase her words, "I think…sometimes you hope for the best without preparing for the worst. And I think that had consequences. But most things do. I don't think your hope is weakness. In fact I admire it, I envy it. I will never have that sort of optimism or hope again. I've seen too much in my world to ever think I can strive for what you have. But I disagree with what you did in letting her go when she couldn't hurt you specifically. There were others she could freely hurt. I know about her vault of hearts. I know about the prisoners she still had. Call me what you want, but I'd have let those arrows kill her that day she was to be executed. I wouldn't have lost any sleep over it. That may make me a monster in your world's eyes but my world, I've learned that you do what you have to do to ensure the lives of innocent people. Not to the one hurting them."

"Even if Regina could change?"

"I wouldn't have risked the lives of innocent people hoping that somewhere someday a person like her might see the error of her ways. The cost is always high, even if you may be right. It's astronomical if you're wrong. But that is me and what I've learned from my world. I'm sure you've learned other lessons in yours. You let her go and the cost you paid for that is one you didn't deserve. I don't think you're naive. We all have moments of bad judgment. She may behave now but you got lucky in that regard. I know plenty that weren't and they paid with their lives."

Snow was quiet, "I have to believe in hope and good. What else was all this for if I don't?"

"I know."

"She was my stepmother."

"I know that too."

"She saved my life. I saved hers. We were even. And then I killed her mother, I owe her that much to-."

"You don't owe her anything. From what I understand, Cora was in a league all her own. She'd have killed you or let Regina do it."

"I cursed her mother's heart and then manipulated Regina into putting it back in. Cora died because I manipulated Regina into killing her own mother."

Mina watched her without expression. Snow wondered if Mina even saw how messed up that was for her to do.

"You do what you have to to survive," Mina said after a few moments, "If monsters threatened my family, I would do what it took, no matter how low or degrading it was."

"It darkened my heart."

"How do you know that, then?"

"Regina ripped it out and showed me," Snow didn't want to talk about this anymore, but Mina didn't seem to realize her hesitance.

Mina sighed and went to pour herself some more juice, "Ever wonder that maybe your heart isn't dark after all? Perhaps Regina just used her magic to create a false dark spot there to hurt you."

Snow stopped, "What? But that was impossible! She wasn't even thinking that at the time."

"I'd say a lot of Regina's actions would be because she wasn't thinking at the time," Mina took a sip, "But perhaps she did it to hurt you. To know you were becoming something as vile as she was."

"I did things after! Acted out in different ways."

"Yes. After. Perhaps you did it because mentally you believed that it was, so you gave yourself permission to act on it subconsciously. The mind is a funny thing, Snow."

Snow was shocked, she had never even considered the idea that Regina may have manipulated her during that moment. She may have changed her heart so that Snow would live in the constant fear and anguish that she might go dark instead of just killing her.

It was a horrible fate for Snow. But something that made sense for her to do.

Snow was about to say so when she heard a rustle upstairs. Emma came down holding Mina's baby in her arms, "She gurgled me awake."

"Hello love," Mina took her daughter and kissed her cheek, "Why aren't you letting Emma sleep in? Sleeping is rare for saviors."

"It's okay, I was waking up anyway. We have to go to the hospital."

"Why?" Mina asked, starting to tense.

"We have to get some blood for our prisoner."

"No. Let her starve."

Emma was firm, "I'm not going to do that."

"She won't die."

"She's our only hope of finding Dracula. And I won't torture a prisoner no matter how repulsive she is."

Mina stiffened and looked around at both of them. She seemed to realize that there was no way she was going to win this argument against hem and so kept her eyes on Emma, "When this is over, you're handing her over to me."

"Of course."

"No bloody tricks or backing out. She's going to be killed," Mina told them and glanced over as Charming came out from behind the small curtain, yawning and rubbing his messy hair.

"Your business is your business and mine is mine," Emma told her levelly, "That's what we agreed to."

Mina kept a look on her as she started to get up. They would never see eye to eye on how to treat those that hurt other people. Mina and Emma had acknowledged that last night as they lay awake whispering back and forth.

But Mina still wasn't so sure Alina would be handed over. Not when Snow found out about what she planned to do. The Princess had intervened when the woman trying to kill her was about to be shot for her many monstrous crimes. What would she do for a woman that had done less to her than Regina had?

"I need to get dressed," Mina said.

"I think we all should," Snow said, trying to diffuse the tension.

Lizzie looked at Charming from Mina's arms and started babbling to him contently.

"Bloody hell," Mina sighed, "Not even six months and she's got her first bloody crush."

0000000000000000000000000000000000000

It had taken a few days but Red was finally feeling well enough to be on her own two feet without help. She was strong enough, she just needed to get her energy back.

She brushed her hair, brushed her teeth, put on minimal makeup and wore some slippers out of the bathroom.

Regina sat on the bed dressed in her silk pajamas. Red watched her and wondered how Regina didn't just slide all around the bed in the last few days she'd been there.

Regina looked up, "You okay?"

"Yeah," she leaned on the desk, "Boy whatever that hunter shot into me had a kick."

"We had to scrape together everything we had with potions and magic to find a cure."

"Didn't the hunter have one?"

"She said she didn't know the antidote," Regina looked up, fury in her eyes, "So she claims."

"She did save my life."

"Yeah well what do you think is going to happen when we find Dracula and kill him? She'll need a new hunt."

red leaned on the doorframe, she was already too tired to argue much, "Maybe she wants to settle down with her daughter."

"And do what, be a normal person?" Regina scoffed, "We both know hunters don't do that. Not for long. They're too messed up by what they've seen."

Red studied the box in front of Regina, "What is that?"

Regina stopped, "Nothing, you should go back downstairs and get some breakfast from your grandmother."

"And now I"m even more curious," Red told her, "Are those tapes?"

Regina looked up, "The Hunter went to Archie's yesterday. I saw her leaving with Emma."

"Regina, what have you done?"

"Archie went to hide the tapes, I"m sure on her command."

"Regina!"

Regina looked up, "She. Will. Get. Bored. She pulled a gun on me when you were laying there poisoned. She makes it no secret that she'd rather me be dead. I'm protecting myself. I'm protecting us. Know your enemy, that's the first rule of any fight."

"She's not fighting you."

"You think she'll want to raise her daughter in the same sort of town I'm in? Or leave it behind to me if she still thinks I'm a villain?"

"You do this and you will be a villain, those aren't for you to listen to."

"You're exaggerating. I'm doing what I have to to protect myself."

Red stared at her, unbelieving at what Regina was saying. Red had hoped that Regina was finally starting to learn that these things had consequences but here they all were. The hunter had saved her life. She hadn't even gone after Regina. Would she if enough time and hunts passed? If she got bored? Or if she just wanted to save the town from what she felt was still a threat?

Red wasn't exaggerating like Regina felt. This was a villainous thing. She spied on someone having a protected private conversation and then went to get something so she could hear what they talked about.

"You'd do this alone."

"I never wanted you as a part of it," Regina told her stubbornly, "This will not hurt her. I will put it back."

"That's not the point," Red pulled on her coat, "The point it that you shouldn't have to resort to that."

"We shouldn't have to do a lot of things," Regina told her, "But we do. You did what you had to to protect your loved ones."

"That was war!"

"So is this."

"No. It's not," Red told her even more frustrated, "And lets not forget who we went to war against."

"Yeah, keep reminding me."

"She won't be as forgiving if she finds out."

"Are you going to tell her?"

Red was quiet, she didn't say anything as she stormed out of the room.

Regina sighed, Red knew hunters. She knew how dangerous they were. They never retired to start normal lives, they always got dragged back into this self righteous crusade of theirs to make a broken world somewhat better.

They thought. There was always going to be monsters.

Regina put the tapes under the bed. She'd listen to them on the way back but first she had to bring Henry's warmer coat to him. It was getting cold. And the jacket Emma had gotten from Manhattan would never do.

And it was a chance to see Henry again. Even if the sperm doner was the one that had him this time.

But what was her life without SOME suffering?

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David had already gone ahead to get the prisoner some 'food'. Mina and Emma had had a quiet breakfast with Snow and got in the car together while Snow stayed home with both babies so they could work.

"I know you're still mad about this," Emma told her.

Mina stared out the window, "I'm not mad at you."

"Maybe you should look at me when you say that if you want me to buy it."

"Sorry, the scenery of Main Street is breathtaking," Mina said sarcastically and looked over at her, "I'm not mad at YOU. I'm angry at this situation. This is a situation where two people trying to stop a monster are arguing whether or not feeding another equally evil monster is acceptable. That's what good people do in your world."

"It's what good people do in your world too."

"Only because their prisoners will die if they starve."

Emma was quiet, "I know you and I won't always see eye to eye on things like this, Mina."

"I' m not always like this," Mina looked back out the window.

"I know. I saw it with how you handled Ruby."

"All this going on, and a baby in the picture now, and then your mother bloody wants to know if we're courting"

Emma looked at Mina so hard that the car nearly swerved right into oncoming traffic. Emma righted it and pulled into the closest parking spot, "What?"

"I didn't stutter," Mina mumbled.

"But I- wow," Emma leaned back and looked at her, studying her quietly. Mina had given her a quick outline of her life when they first met. But last night, as they lay next to each other in Emma's bed, Mina had relived her past for the second time in 24 hours as she told her everything. She told her about her childhood, and Dracula, she told her about how she ended up on her own and got into hunting. She told Emma about how she met Killian and found out she was pregnant. She told her everything about how she landed here. It was a big step for Mina to show her that sort of trust. No one else knew everything like Emma did. Not Van Helsing whom Mina had been separated from on a hunt and never found again. Not even Archie knew everything yet.

Emma knew how hard it was to trust someone that much and how few those sort of people came.

Emma let herself look at Mina, let herself think about what her mother might have said to make a Victorian woman turned hunter uneasy. The way she heard it, the Enchanted Forest was far more accepting of same sex relationships than other worlds. She had been with other women, she knew Mina had been with a woman for two months during a summer she'd broken her leg, it wasn't out of the realm of possibility….

Why shouldn't they at least think about it?

The words were out of her mouth before she could stop them, "Would you think about it?"

"About what?"

"Us together."

Mina blinked, "You don't…..know me."

"On the contrary, I think I know a lot about you at you this point."

"You know my past, and you've only had mostly a few shades of my personality," Mina told her, "I don't know anything about you,"

"You know plenty about me if you ask around."

"There's a difference in knowing someone from them talking about it and knowing someone from someone else."

"You're not protesting the idea like I thought you would," Emma pointed out.

"Of course not, you're brilliant," Mina said a little more harshly than she should have, but not sarcastically "Why wouldn't I be attracted?"

"Because I'm me," Emma was quieter.

"That's one of the reasons why I'm attracted," Mina told her, "But I'm also me. And when we argue, you don't seem to like that version very much."

"The only couple I've ever seen that like all the versions of each other are my parents," Emma said, "And I've seen plenty of couples."

"It's not so easy as that."

"I know it's not easy," Emma looked ahead, "My son is a mess, you have your daughter that we'd both be mothers to….which I'm sure Regina would LOVE….and we have the newest threat in town….to say nothing about our own baggage."

"And Neal."

"And Neal," Emma shifted.

"Whom you're in love with still."

And there it was, the thing Emma was hoping Mina wouldn't bring up. But it was Mina, who barely held thoughts and feelings back. She was honest about everything unless it meant lying would save people, "It hurts my chest every time I think about him and me. All I can remember are the months and years of pain I felt because I trusted him and others like him. I understand his reasoning but nothing ever makes me feel anything stronger than how I felt when that cop came up behind me. I have to face it, I know I do -."

"I'd rather you not use me to shield you from having to face it."

"That's not it!"

Mina gave her a look.

"All of it," Emma agreed.

"But it would be easier for you to have an extremely damaged hunter over someone you could actually work things through with and love.."

"In some ways. It wouldn't be a rebound but I don't know if what we'd have would be true love either."

"I don't want true love," Mina went to look back out the window, "I want trust and faith and I have that with you. However, it's all more than that. You come from a world where True love is a thing to solve a whole lot of problems. You wouldn't be happy with just trust and faith and all that. Your world and this world depends on love to have a successful marriage."

"And you're different? Because you wanted Lucy to marry Lord Holmwood. You thought she'd be happy because she had security."

"She also loved him, it was more than just security."

"And what if we fell in love?"

"Well maybe. But I am also ME, Emma. You've heard what I've done to survive."

"You did terrible things that others wouldn't do because you felt it would keep the most people alive at one time. And you were usually right."

"And there were plenty of times I was wrong," Mina reminded her, "I am not worthy of a savior with that much blood on my hands."

"I'm not worthy to be a savior but here we are," Emma shrugged, "We probably should focus on this talk after Dracula's dead."

"Emma, I don't even know if I'll be alive through all this."

"Lets hope all of us are," Emma started her car and drove out of the space, "But you ARE attracted?"

"Yes."

And Emma found herself at least interested in the thought too.

At the very least it'd be a relationship whose second half hadn't tried to betray or kill her in the past. Yet.

0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

 **8 Months Ago**

Alina had lost her husband many many times in the thousands of years that they'd been together. He'd died several times, he'd been lost to her more metaphorically when his eyes wandered and he took in other women to serve as wives. He grew bored with them, they panicked and left when he died. They died. He came back. It started again.

Just like it started this time.

She'd spent eight years without him. Eight long years until the dreams began. There was never a set time. It was just simply when the dreams started up, and she would dress, pay her voyages and come to get him. He was ready.

Or at least as ready as he could be in a vault.

The Enchanted forest had one vault for Dark Ones. Every world had one that the Dark One beings were sent to. This world had two. One for those like him and one for the Dark Ones.

She never paid attention to that one.

When the dreams came, and she arrived to the secluded area in the mountains, close to home, the village had been cleared out years ago. No one was left. Time felt like it stopped as Alina backtracked two towns over and took two people in the night.

The first one she saved. He'd be hungry, he'd need his strength. The second one, she thralled. She could not turn the key to let him out herself, it would have to be someone else to do it.

The key was turned as the woman sobbed and begged for mercy. Alina ignored her. She shut up soon enough, they always did.

The dark smoke rose from the vault door. Black liquid filled the bottom of the door as it lowered.

She watched as the door rose back up and the liquid cleared back. He was always his most vulnerable at this stage. She had to get him as strong as possible before his enemies took advantage. She was his wife, taking care of him was her job.

This was usually the time she swore to him that the ones that did this to him were either dead or they were about to be. Mina had gotten lucky. The other wives were supposed to hunt her down and kill her but she'd found a way to kill both of them and had nearly gotten to Alina several times.

They were going to deal with this.

She looked at her weak husband. He was old, naked, and curled in a fetal position. He was pitiful. He'd be strong soon, he had to be.

Mina may be a threat, she might be able to come back and do it again if he wasn't at full strength.

She come down and stroked his hair, "My love. You're back, you've returned safely."

She kissed his cheek, ""We'll take you to your brother. He'll know what to do to bring you to how it was before."

Dracula didn't like his brother, he never fully trusted the second-born. They had to make an exception, they were running out of options.

Mina Harker had inherited her father's ability to kill vampires and live to tell about it. They had to get him strong before she came calling…or before she died before they could get thier revenge.

"We'll be alright, my love," she whispered, "We'll get some help."

000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Present Day

Sometime during the short drive to the sheriff's station, the talk about getting together in the future had devolved from a serious one to a more lighthearted one between the two. Mina had told her everything and Emma had still shared an attraction. Some of the tension and frustration over everything they'd been feeling had eased for now.

"If we got married, you're changing your name," Emma teased.

"To what? Mina Swan? WIlhelmina Swan? That doesn't flow well."

"Well I don't want to change my name to Emma Harker."

"It's an amazing name."

"It's your husband's name. Wouldn't that be awkward?"

"Well, my maiden name is Murray."

"Emma Murray has too many 'm's"

"Picky."

"It's a name, it's important."

"I see now what our fake wedding plans would look like."

"I would not be a bridezilla."

"A what?"

"It's…a term or whatever talking about one of those entitled scary brides going above and beyond their wedding day."

"You are shaping up to be one of those now and we're not even being serious."

"I would get married in a courtroom. A quick wedding and then off to the honeymoon."

"How romantic."

"The honeymoon is what someone should spend money on!" Emma walked into the sheriff's station, "I'm really wishing we'd switch to the next conversation now."

"Agreed," Mina unbuttoned her coat.

Emma stopped as she came in. It was too quiet and she saw why immediately.

No one was in the cell. Alina had been let out.

Where was David? Emma's heart started racing. There were no signs of struggle, nothing had been touched. What had happened? Had Dracula attacked. Had he attacked her father and let Alina out? During the time they were talking, was her father bleeding out?

Mina was already reaching for her gun, "Emma, we have to get out."

"I have to alert the town."

"There's no time, it's dangerous he-."

Something slammed hard against Mina's head. She fell forward and hit the ground. Emma turned, with her own gun drawn.

Her father stood in front of her, a blank look in his eyes as he clutched a small statue in his hand.

"D-dad?"

He dropped the phone and went for her. Emma tried to back away but her back collided with the coat rack.

Her father grabbed her by the neck. Emma's eyes grew as both hands closed around her throat and started to squeeze, "No, stop!"

She had to use magic. But she couldn't summon magic, this was her dad!

Alina came into the room, pulling on her gloves, "Did you think I would let you catch me so easily? How blown up your sense of worth is."

Alina had used her thrall on David.

Emma tried to fight back, to claw at his arms and his face as her body went into panic mode. He was trying to get her to pass out, he wasn't trying to kill her.

Alina needed them for something.

Emma tried to reach for a coat…if anything just to distract him by throwing in his face.

She was losing strength. Spots danced in front of her eyes.

Her world went dark.

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Emma had gone to her parents last night, but she had let Henry spend the night with Neal and they'd taken advantage of it. Pizza and video games and bonding. Neal even managed to get the name out of a girl that Henry liked. He gave him sound advice, Neal thought. Even Rumple had approved.

Emma, Bae, and Regina all had lunch with Henry once every two weeks to try and show co parenting unity. It usually had the opposite effect with some snark and white knuckling thrown in.

Still. Better than nothing. They had to try for Henry's sake. He didn't care about Regina anymore than most did and Regina made it crystal clear that she didn't care about him.

He pulled up to the school five minutes before lunch started. Emma was usually already here. She made a habit of coming early so that Neal and Regina weren't awkwardly together without some sort of referee.

Regina was there. She was there ten minutes before school let out. Neal wondered if he went ten minutes early next time, she'd show up fifteen minutes early just to show him up.

"Regina," he greeted tersely."

"Neal," Regina greeted back, "Thought you weren't going to make it."

"And why would you think that?" He didn't want an answer to it, he wanted it to be rhetorical, "Where's Emma?"

"I don't know, maybe she's out with the hunter like she always is these days."

He heard the implication in her voice. She smirked at him, like she was baiting him for a fight.

"She doesn't miss anything with Henry. Anything. She's been pushing for these interactions and for therapy. She's wanting Henry to get better after Mr. Dark. She would be here."

Regina stopped, "I'm sure she's running late."

"What's holding her up? Traffic?" Neal asked, "Something might be wrong."

"Well she wasn't in the house with you?"

"No, she spent the night with her parents."

"Well call her parents."

Henry was going to be out any minute. Neal took out his phone and dialed the number.

 _"Hello?"_

It was her mother.

"Hey Snow," he greeted.

 _"Neal, hi,_ " Snow said, " _Can you call back? I'm putting Lizzie and Robert down for naps."_

"Just quick question, is Emma there?"

 _"No, she left a few hours back._ " Neal paled, " _Why, is something wrong?"_

"No worries, I'm sure she's just late. Thank you Snow." He hung up.

"She's not answering her phone," Regina turned, "I think we have to go visit the jail."

"What are we gonna tell Hen-," Neal stopped when Regina took them both up in a purple cloud of smoke….

….to an empty jail. No Emma, no Charming, no Mina, no Alina.

"Oh perfect," Regina hissed

"We gotta tell papa," Neal muttered.

000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Emma woke up with a hard time breathing. Remembering the reason why sent her into hyperventilations and she rolled on her stomach and coughed.

Alina had her dad under her thrall. She was out of the cell.

That could mean Mina…

Emma opened her eyes and looked around. She was in a basement of some house, she wasn't sure which one. It was mostly empty. Lights were on above them and the small windows towards the ceiling showed it was still day.

Mina lay a few feet away from her. Emma saw there was a chain around Mina's ankle connected to the floor. Emma looked down at her own foot and saw the same.

"Mina," Emma whispered and went to shake her awake. She'd been hurt. Emma could see her brown hair was matted with blood.

There was blood on Mina's shoulder. Emma could see teeth marks. Either Alina or Dracula had fed. Emma didn't think it mattered, Mina wouldn't take either one of them drinking from her well.

"Mina," Emma shook her gently. Mina stirred. Her eyes shot open. Emma helped her turn over on all fours as she started to choke and vomit.

"You have a concussion."

"What?" Mina asked

"Alina has my dad," Emma coughed, her throat was killing her, "He hit you on the head."

Mina held herself over the floor for a few moments, trying to process what was said. She let out a quiet curse and rolled away from the vomit onto the floor where it was…somewhat clean.

"You're okay," Emma promised her."

"No we're not," Mina put her hand to her shoulder. She stared at the ceiling, "They won't know where we are. We have to get out."

"I know. I had to wake you up. Are you tired?"

"I'm always tired."

"You have to stay awake," Emma put her hand on the chain around her ankle. She summoned within her the magic to make it disappear.

Nothing happened. Emma tried again, but her magic wasn't working.

"I'm going to skin that bitch alive," Mina tried to sit up. She closed her eyes tightly and said one of the cursewords Emma had taught her the other night, "I'm seeing double, Emma. I'm useless in a fight."

"I can't heal you, something's wrong."

"They stopped your magic."

"How? Squid ink? That's temporary, it has to wear off," Emma looked around.

"I don't know how…or if it's temporary. They're old, Emma. Don't forget that. Whatever he did might be permanent."

"I hope not," Emma held her throat, it was getting harder and harder to talk, "I was supposed to meet Regina and Neal for lunch with Henry, they're going to notice we're gone. Hopefully even before that.

But Mina was in bad shape, Emma needed to get her to a hospital. She needed to warn everyone.

Mina pulled herself to lean against the wall. Her hand went to her belt, "Bitch took one of my lockpick sets."

"One?"

Mina reached up her own shirt, "First one always gets taken away."

Emma saw the hints of a corset under Mina's shirt. Mina preferred them, they provided an extra layer of protection should she ever be in a fight where a knife was involved.

She took a few pieces sewn into the corset out, Emma quickly took the pieces she'd need and started picking at the lock on her ankles.

"Can you run?" Emma asked.

"I don't think so. Not far."

"We'll have to get a car or something."

"You may have to leave me."

Emma heard the panic in her voice, she heard the quivering in her words. Mina was trying to play the hero She was trying to play the distraction so Emma could save herself. Well Emma hadn't spent all night listening to what what bastard did to her and other women to let THAT happen, "Not happening

"You may be faced with the option."

"Hunters don't leave hunters they care about"

"You're not a hunter."

"I'm the savior and I'm not leaving you."

Mina looked up at her, there was sadness in her eyes, "The hardest lesson even I can continue to learn is that you can't save everyone."

"Don't be like this," the lock finally opened. Emma yanked her foot out and went to Mina's, "You don't want me to leave you."

"I don't, but we have to look at all the options."

"Well, leaving you isn't one of those, so knock it off," the chain came open. Emma took a quiet breath, "Okay, I'm betting that door is locked."

"She's probably on the other side," Mina reached up behind herself, to a knife strapped to the back of her corset and handed it to Emma.

"Don't go to sleep," Emma whispered and crept up the stairs. She tested each one carefully before putting her full weight on it, mindful of any creaks or groans that might give away her position.

She finally reached the door. It was locked. Emma tried to slide the picks into the lock. It let out a small click.

The door flew open, Emma moved backwards to avoid it. Her foot found air, and she was falling. Her back hit the stairs, she just narrowly avoided the back of her head hitting them too.

Her father stood there, staring ahead. Alina was beside him. She had changed. She was wearing a simple black pantsuit with her hair falling down her shoulders.

"Well then," Alina said, "You two are awake."

"Mina's hurt," Emma told her, "She needs a hospital."

"You tell me that as if that will sway me," Alina looked at Emma's father, "Now you and Mina will get up and come with me. If you do not, or if I believe you might try something, I will kill your father. Your mother will never see him alive again."

"The thrall can't last. You may have made eye contact long enough to get him to do what you needed but he'll fight against it, he has to."

"Are you quite done?" Alina sighed, "I think you are. IT's time to go. Bring Mina, or I'll do what none of us wants and drag her up here myself.

"You touch any of them and I'll kill you," Emma hissed.

"You're not in a position to do anything to anyone at this point," Alina smirked.

Alina was right, Emma needed to bide her time. She'd seen what Alina had done to Mina's forearm when they fought. She was stronger and faster, Emma was at a disadvantage

"Don't make me drag Henry into this. That'd be unfortunate after what he's been through."

It took everything Emma had not to go for her right there. But if she did that, she knew that Alina would make good on her word to kill her dad and maybe others.

But as Emma went to help Mina up and come with them, Alina was a dead woman.

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

 **8 Months Ago**

Alina knew the risk as she forced a realm jumper to take them to the Enchanted Forest. Dracula and his brother did not get along. Everyone in the family knew that these two were always at each other's throats, sometimes more literal than metaphorical.

They had nowhere else to go. Dracula couldn't go home.

He was weak still. The blood had made him start to de-age but it wasn't enough. It would be years before he was back to his full physical strength. They didn't have a lot of time. Mina Harker was on a rampage. She'd come after them if she found out he was alive. He was still vulnerable. Mina would get a team of hunters to take care of them. Alina was clever and strong, but she had no friends. Mina apparently was skilled at having those and getting them to fight for her. Like her father before her with the assistance of the Dark One.

Alina wished she could just snap the bitch's neck, but she had to keep her alive. This wasn't her kill, it was Dracula's.

She got them to an inn in the dark of night and sent word. No one went to Erebus's territory without permission first. It'd be like walking into a lion's den.

He came towards morning, when the world was still asleep and Dracula wheezed from his place on the bed.

"Erebus," Alina greeted at the bearded man with piercing blue eyes.

"That's not my name here," he told her. He looked bored. He had always held that Dracula would one day betray her and leave her to die. It hadn't happened yet. It never would. Though that didn't stop Erebus from acting like this was a temporary dalliance that would reach its inevitable end.

"And who are you here?" She asked in annoyance.

"Here they know me as Mr. Dark."

00000000000000000000000000000000000000

 **Present Day**

It wouldn't be hard for them to find Emma. All Rumplestiltskin needed was a location spell and one of her things. Luckily for him, there was plenty to pick from. Emma had left a pile of clothes on the bed that she and Mina shared. He felt like some sort of deviant as he moved through her underthings and picked one of the coats she had laid out.

Mina's side of the room was worse. All the weapons were in easy reach, so was the cradle. What a combination. Her clothes were a little further away, but still easy to grab if she needed to make a quick exit. He felt even more disgraceful looking at HER corset laying across the top of the chair. That was sort of his granddaughter.

"Papa," Neal whispered, "She's not picking up her phone, can't you hurry?"

"I'm hurrying," he carried the things downstairs.

"They could be hurt….or worse."

"Pretty sure they'd burn down half of Storybrooke before something killed them," Rumplestiltskin went for the front doors of the house.

"What would I tell Henry?"

"I think you're jumping to conclusions," but he had to admit he was worried too. He had set up a call system with both Emma and Mina. They both were overdue to check in.

And Charming was nowhere to be found.

As soon as he got outside where Regina and Red were waiting, he summoned the location spell and sprinkled it on the red coat. The same one taht she was wearing when he met her. He watched as it floated up and started moving towards the woods.

Because of course they would be in the woods.

"Lets' go," Regina said and pulled her coat closer.

0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

 **8 Months Ago**

Alina was standing there over her husband's bed. She held his unresponsive hand in her own. His eyes were closed but Alina knew that he was listening. Once his sister had said they should just leave him to die if this was the way he kept coming back. He had looked asleep but when he was strong again, he had remembered. He sent her down to the Underworld himself. Siblings were so odd. Alina was glad hers had grown old or just died Millenia ago.

"He's so weak," Erebus sighed, "I don't know why he insists on coming back if he's to be like this."

"He hasn't had anything to drink for 8 years. He'll feed and grow strong again."

"Oh yes, I forget how his affliction works."

Alina glared at him, "You may grow fat on people's fears but we have to take our share in a more barbaric way."

"Why the hurry?"

"The one that escaped him went into hunting. She'll be dead before she's 30 at the rate she's going."

"And you won't get to her once she's dead."

"Not until he goes back down to the underworld and even then we both know he couldn't get to her where she's going."

"Well I cannot help."

Alina looked up, "What do you mean you cannot help?"

"Am I to give him an endless supply of blood from my own charges?" Erebus demanded, "He could drink them dry and it wouldn't be enough. He would still be weak."

"You have the dark one."

Erebus bristled, "I'm not going to allow you to touch my favorite son. At any rate, madame, it still wouldn't be enough."

"Then what would? Who would?"

Erebus stopped, he shifted from one foot to another and sighed, "I know I will regret this. But they speak of going back to the land without magic. They want to stop me. They never could of course, I'm far older and powerful than they could hope to perceive. But they hope the savior will stop me."

Alina understood immediately, "You think her blood might get him his strength back?"

"It's possible. She's powerful, I can smell her worlds away."

"Could it succeed."

"I'm not sure. I know I can use her, she's got enough brewing inside that mind of hers to keep me well fed for centuries if I can get her. Why not you as well? There's never been anything like her to ever exist. Perhaps her blood will give you what you need."

"And if you're able to get her and hold on to her-."

"You may never need to spend years getting him up to strength again."

Alina stroked her husband's white hair, "This will take time?"

"Yes. I wouldn't stay around for the curse to hit. Not just yet."

"When?"

"I can get her in a matter of days once we arrive, I feel. But give me some months to get her under control. Then you may come."

Alina saw the slight shiver in her husband and went to cover him up, "In a matter of months, then."

000000000000000000000000000000000000000

 **Present Day**

They were right outside the door when reality set in for Mina and she started struggling against Alina and Charming. She wasn't as connected to Dracula anymore, she wasn't linked, she wasn't craving the blood or the darkness. The dark thoughts were just hers and not his.

But she knew. He was on the other side of the door.

"Stop," Alina forced her down to her knees, "Or I will drag you. And your'e already hurt, your'e already covered in your own vomit. Do you want that humiliation as well?"

Emma broke free of her father and punched Alina in the face. Alina let out a curse as she stumbled. It was more out of shock than anything. Charming stepped in and yanked Emma down hard to the ground. Emma panicked mentally. She knew logically it was the thrall. Her father loved her and he would never EVER willingly put his hands on her like this. But she was still all to well reminded of a couple of father figures she trusted putting their hands on her in ways that were invasive and traumatizing.

"Do you want me to kill him?" Alina demanded angrily, "Are you giving me permission? Do you want to watch him die in front of you?"

"No!"

"Then don't fight back," Alina grabbed both of them and dragged them into the room. Mina saw him first. He was kneeling, dressed only in slacks. He wasn't as old as he used to be. He looked about in his 70's physically. He was bound so he couldn't move. HIs arms were positioned behind and above, sort of like wings. It had to be uncomfortable. Good.

There was a chain fastened to his neck. A large stick was tied in his mouth like a gag. He had an absolutely animalistic look in his eyes. He was going to rip them apart if he got loose. Somehow Emma knew that would be what happened if he got loose.

"Don't move," Alina snapped to Mina. Mina didn't, she was frozen in terror at the monster in front of her. She didn't seem to feel the needle that Alina inserted in her arm. Emma watched the blood filling the bag.

She knew why they were there.

"No," Emma tried to stand up. Her father's hand went back to her neck and slammed her back down.

Emma's cry seemed to wake Mina up from what she was feeling. Without a word she slugged Alina in the face. Alina took the blow. She didn't seem affected by it, she slammed Mina's head against the floor. IT wasn't hard enough to kill her, but it did more damage.

Mina was going to be dead at this rate.

Emma started fighting again. Alina went over to assist. Emma fought but the needle was shoved into her arm. She felt her father squeezing her neck to make her more compliant. Emma only stilled when the spots were in front of her eyes again.

Her family had to know they were gone by now. Where were they?

Both were held down until the bags were full. Alina yanked both the bags away. Emma winced as the needle was yanked out of her arm. She was allowed to sit up. She went to Mina's side and helped her to sit up, "Mina?"

"We have to get out of here," Mina slurred.

"I don't think we can," Emma whispered.

Mina's heart was pounding. She looked white, she might throw up again. Emma pulled her face against her shoulder. _Don't look at him, don't look._

Emma whispered to her father, begging him for any sign of recognition. There wasn't anything there in his eyes. He didn't recognize her.

Emma watched as Alina gave one of the bags to Dracula. He tore into it. Emma refused ot let Mina look. The first bag was devoured in seconds. The second one had more of an effect. As he drank, he started to look younger. The wrinkles gave way to smoother skin. He grew muscle where there'd been flab. A healthy amount of weight grew on his torso and his face.

"Oh god." Emma whispered in fear. He yanked one arm from the chain. It snapped like it was nothing. The second one snapped. Emma shrank away, suddenly scared, as he matched her eyes and stood up.

She was completely vulnerable right now. And Mina was hurt. And no one knew where she was.

Suddenly she felt like a child again and this was one of her guardians who could do whatever they wanted and no one would stop him as long as there were no marks.

He stretched his neck to one side and went to unlock the restraints on his neck, "Hello Ms. Swan."

Mina was shaking so hard in Emma's arms that it was hard to hide it.

"I've heard a great deal about both of you," he watched her with that intense feral predatory gaze, "What you've accomplished in under 30 years, Ms. Swan. What you've developed into, Mina. It's something to make anyone proud over what the two of you are capable of separately. But together? That's something I want to see."

Mina looked over to him, she was still shaking. There was a rage in her face down, "Keep away from us, you son of a bitch."

"Is that any way to talk to the father of your baby?"

"You're not the father of my child," Mina said, but in her eyes there was a panic as she considered what might have happened that she didn't remember.

"Maybe not physically but my blood flows in your veins, and therefore it flows in hers. I am part of that child just as much as you and whatever wastrel you bedded."

"You don't want that baby," Emma moved in front of Mina, "I know your past, I know what you used to do to them. Nothing more than meat."

Dracula blinked, "You two are quite talkative. Perhaps we can all sit down and have a little talk. We're far overdue."

He stepped towards them. Emma involuntarily moved back. Mina was already scrambling for the wall.

"You need to let us go," Emma told him.

"No, not until we all ta-," he was cut off by a bullet to the chest. The thunder in the room was deafening. Emma instinctively hit the ground and put a hand on Mian's head to keep her down.

Rumplestiltskin stood there with a gun aimed at Dracula.

Alina hissed. Regina appeared next to Rumple. She waved her hand, Alina was immobilized. Neal and Red ran in next, Neal raised his crossbow and fired. Alina was hit in the chest. She gave a bores sigh as she pulled it out, "I can smell the squid ink. We're not magical beings like you are, it won't work on us."

Everyone froze.

Alina pulled out a bag, "Not like it'll work on all of you."

She threw the bag at the floor. It exploded at their feet. A fog rushed out at them out of the bag.

Both Alina and Dracula attacked. Red was still the most powerful one, she wasn't bound to the magic like Rumple and Regina were. She leapt in front of Regina and swung at Alina. Unlike Emma's hit, the force of the blow nearly knocked Alina off balance.

Dracula was on her first. He lifted her by her hair and shirt and threw her against the wall. Regina was distracted long enough for Alina to punch her hard enough for Emma to hear multiple ribs break.

"STOP!" Emma stood.

Both turned. Neal stood in front of Emma with the crossbow drawn. Rumple stood in front of his son and fired again. Dracula's head snapped back, but like the other bullets and arrows it didn't seem to bother either of them.

Neal went to raise the crossbow again.

David went to stand in front of them, blocking both men from firing without hitting Emma's father.

"Lets all just calm down," Alina went forward, "There's no way any of you will get out of this alive. So lets just lower the guns, shall we?"

Rumplestiltskin cursed, and lowered the gun, "What do you want?"

"To leave. We'll be taking the boy too."

Rumple stiffened at first, thinking the boy was in terms with his son. But it wasn't, it was David.

Dracula went to look at him. They measured each other up, "You've grown old."

Rumplestiltskin didn't say anything, anything more would get him to stay. Multiple people were hurt. He had to tend to them as soon as possible.

"You've gotten loved ones too," Dracula sneered, "Now I know how weak you are."

And then he and Alina and David were gone.

"Rumple?"

He turned, Emma was holding onto Mina.

"Rumple, we need to get to a hospital."

Rumple's mind was in a whir, he needed to get his magic back, he needed to go after Dracula. Why hadn't the squid ink paralyzed them? Was it a different kind? Dracula was older, he might know other ways to depower them without completely paralyzing, right?

He needed his magic back.

Everyone was hurt.

They all could have died and he would have been helpless to stop it.

"I'm getting the ambulance," Neal pulled out his phone.

0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

To be in that weakened state was pure hell for someone like Dracula. It was to be exhausted constantly no matter how much one slept. It was to be lethargic. It was to have weights on one's arms and legs that were too much to lift. It was having a white veil over his face, pressing against it, suffocating him.

To die was a mortal's business and he was much more than one of them. To die for him was years and years recovery to get back where he was. Death was nothing more than a mortal injury that would heal in time for someone like him but wasn't any less annoying.

He looked at himself in the mirror as he put on his suit. It was a dark charcoal one with a matching tie. His beautiful wife had assured him that this was what they wore here. Dracula didn't much care, he was already planning to get what he needed and go back home. While his brother had delusions about the ripe picking of this world, he had no interest in remaining. The blood was tainted with the poisons they fed themselves. Why should he remain?

It would not take him long to play his games. He would get his vengeance. He would punish them for murdering his brother and move on from this nothing town from a nothing world cursed to another nothing world.

His home was a castle in Romania in a world with no color. He'd had his wives and he'd had a plan for how this was all going to go.

He wanted to go back home, this world was bright and loud and toxic.

Alina, wearing her hair down and wearing a purple dress came up to him. He took her in, she was glowing. She was always glowing when she got him back. It was one of the many times he thought she was beautiful. They'd had many millenia together. She'd come a long way from the beaten girl he'd taken from a hunter that had nearly killed him. She wasn't like the others. She'd wanted him to take her. So, he did. Because it'd hurt her father to lose his prized daughter to someone like him. That'd been before. Now he loved her. No matter how many women he took as a wife or how many he turned, Alina was the only one he loved.

Alina put the cufflinks on his shirt, "How are you feeling?"

"Alive," he brushed her hair back, "Thanks to you."

She met his eyes, "Emma Swan and the Dark One murdered your brother."

"I know."

"That cannot stand."

"It won't," he promised her. They had a hostage for now. But they couldn't kill the savior, her blood and she were valuable. Even Erebus saw that.

"Mina murdered your wives, that cannot stand either."

He smirked, Alina had never liked any of them, but she understood it was all for the principal of the matter. The other wives never would have.

"It won't stand but she is also valuable. Killing her for the damage she's caused would be too easy."

"I think you're being blind over your need to win."

"She must live. Not because she is special but death is too easy for a woman that murdered your charges as well as my wives. She has friends here, a family growing, she needs to lose it all again to remind her what she's playing with.

Alina didn't care about the kids she'd turned. He knew she saw them as distractions and toys. She'd turned children before to distract hunters. Plenty of their kind had died, there were always those in a group that felt a child could be redeemed to their way of thinking.

"Mina and Emma both have a stronger support this time," Alina warned him, "It won't be like it was last time where she had two humans to guide her. She has magical beings. Powerful ones."

"Who are no match against me," he soothed and pressed his hand against her face, "If we break down that support, we are punishing the ones responsible for my brother's death. It has to be done. Emma has to live. And you know why Mina has to live. If we kill them before we take away thier support system, they'll be much more dangerous dead. We must be clever, far more clever than ERebus ever was."

Erebus had wanted this little town to feast on before he moved on. Dracula wanted ot anilhilate it.

"You will get our chance at Mina," he promised her. He owed her that at least. The woman had taken too much.

"Thank you," she moved closer. He put his hand at her waist, taking pleasure in the way she still shivered at his touch. He pressed his lips against hers. They were stronger together than they ever were apart. They couldn't fight now, not when they were surrounded by enemies.

He turned to Charming, "In the meantime, you'll have him to practice on."

And then the others one by one.

000000000000000000000000

The town went into immediate lockdown. Everyone had used the magically re-stocking shelves to stock up in their houses for when Dracula finally revealed himself. The town had had a plan. They'd formed after Mr. Dark had died. It'd been a way to pass those months before the next threat hit

Emma immediately moved her mother to Rumplestiltskin's house. It'd been hell to tell her that Charming had been taken from them. She had gone to get him back but they'd already been gone. Emma had fled in case they returned. She wouldn't survive by herself if they had squid ink.

After that, she'd pulled Henry out of school and issued the new town alarm. Everyone had known what to do, they'd even done drills. Emma had stayed by her phone in case they got calls that Dracula had taken anyone els.e But no calls came in. either he was in an abandoned location or he was locked in with someone.

Either one was terrifying.

Emma heard something break when she got in with Henry. Neal immediately locked the door behind her. Emma saw her mother sitting numbly on the couch. Her eyes were red from crying. Without a word, Emma went over to hug her mother. She didn't know what to tell her. They'd get him back? How? He had ways to deflect the magic. HE was strong and faster and just wouldn't stay dead. Everything was false hope.

Her mother knew that because she started sobbing when she embraced Emma.

There was another sound of something breaking.

"That's Mina," Snow finally pulled away, "You have to see to her."

"Rumple can," Emma wasn't leaving her mother's side.

"She wont' let Rumple in the room. When he healed her, she started breaking things in the room. she hasn't stopped.

Emma heard wood splinter. Mina let out an angry grief stricken wail. Emma felt her heart break. Mina had been fighting against this moment for her daughter's sake and everyone else he would kill. It was all for nothing. Jonathan had died to kill Dracula and here he still was.

Emma promised her mother she'd be right back and raced up the stairs.

Rumple was up there. Emma saw the broken mirror and his bloody knuckles. A vase was broken in the corner.

Belle held Lizzie, "What can I do?"

Emma didn't know. She didn't know what to do or how to fix any of this, "Can you just…..go sit with my mom, please?"

"Of course. But- but I can help more than that."

"I know. But just for now….just sit with her. It doesn't seem important but it is."

She turned to Rumple, "She won't let you in."

"She threw a vase towards my head," he told her, "Though I don't think it was intentional, I think she just wanted to throw it….and everything else."

"You need that hand looked at."

"Don't worry about me, dear. It'll be healed in time."

"You're not okay."

"No. But there's nothing any of us can do about that right now."

"There's nothing I can do for Mina either."

"No. But I think you should go in there anyway. What's she going to do at this point? Throw splinters?"

Emma closed her eyes. She wanted to find her dad. she wanted Mina to calm down. She wanted everyone safe. Just that morning their biggest worry had been keeping Alina behind bars and whether or not they'd get together. Now it'd all come apart.

Emma knocked on the door. When she didn't get a response, she pounded on the door.

"LEAVE ME ALONE!"

"Mina, it's Emma. Please let me in."

There was hesitation. Emma heard the door unlock. Emma walked in and took in the room. Everything was broken except for Emma's things which had been shoved into the nearest closet.

Mina was cut and bleeding, she didn't seem to notice much, she went to sit in the torn window seat. She curled up with her knees against her chest. She rocked back and forth as she sobbed. Emma knew that position very well, she had mastered it.

"Mina-," she started.

"I can't do this."

"Hey," Emma went to kneel across from her, "You don't have to do this by yourself."

"We killed him," she sobbed, "we killed him and he still ruined my life. My father killed him and he still came back. we can't KILL him, it's impossible."

"Everything dies."

"THEN WHY WON"T HE?" Mina screamed through her tears.

"I don't know, we'll figure it out."

"No one has."

"No one had a Dark One and a savior and…whatever Regina is helping them. Hey," Emma pulled Mina's head up to look at her, "Nothing is going to happen to you or your daughter, I promise."

"and what happens when he takes everything you love?"

"He won't," Emma told her. Mina gave her an incredulous look. One that told Emma not to be stupid because they both knew he could, "We are going to fight him with everything. Mina, it'll be different this time. You have to believe that. You have me. You have Rumple. And neither one of us will abandon you."

"Jonathan said the same thing and I watched him die. Don't you get it? I can't lose anyone else to him. He's already taken everything before. Now he stands to gain even more if he rips it all away."

"I know," Emma moved closer, ready to move back if Mina showed any reluctance.

When she didn't, Emma pulled closer and took her in her arms. She pulled her close. Emma didn't know what else to do. So she just did the only thing she could think and let her friend panic.

000000000000000000000000

Regina knew that she would never get the answers she needed from Mina. They didn't trust each other. Mina would give them a rundown of Dracula like she had when they first met. She wouldn't go into detail about things Regina might want to ask.

So she had sat with Red in their room in Rumple's house. The tapes were in her hands, "I know this morning we had a fight about this being Mina's privacy. I wanted to find out more about her in case she turned on me and you didn't want to worry about a threat that wasn't there."

"I know."

"But now we do have a threat that's here. I need- I have to know what happened," Regina said, "I know you don't like it. But we have to know what a threat he is. Why is she the way she is? Is it because of him or something else?"

Red still didn't like it. Why couldn't they ask? But Red knew the answer to that. What happened when they woke up and there wasn't a time to ask questions? What happened if they were attacked in the morning and they could have known how to fight back based on Mina's story? She had to have found something. He'd been dead for eight years.

Red had killed during the last war she'd been in. She'd murdered soldiers of the woman she was currently in the bedroom with. Surely listening to someone's life story paled in comparison to all that.

Mina might even understand, given this was a threat for all the town.

"I need you to be with me on this, the others won't," Regina told her, "I'm trying to change. But I have to know. I have to know who she and Dracula are. My son is in therapy because of the last monster. I need to know what he's trapped with now."

It was doing the wrong thing, it still felt. But now it was for the right reason. A monster hunter would understand, she had to.

This wasn't just about two women that didn't like each other now.

"Okay," Red finally agreed.

"Okay," Regina pressed play and clutched Red's hand.


	7. S04E07 - A Negotiation

As soon as Snow had been told that Dracula and Alina had taken Charming, she started plotting about how to get him back. He may be hard to beat but he wasn't invincible. He had died many times. This was something that they all knew. It was a constant thorn in the side of the world without color apparently.

And Alina could be killed. Mina had killed the other wives. If they killed or captured one again, then they left the other more vulnerable. THey'd caught Alina before-

But had it been a trap? Easier access to Mina and Emma?

Alina had taken a risk to get ahold of them, that was for sure. She'd have been in trouble if Emma had acquiesced to Mina's wish that they kill her. Snow had agreed with Emma at the time Killing to protect yourself in the heat of the moment was understandable. Killing someone that had already been captured and de-powered was wrong.

Or at least she thought it was. And now look what it cost them.

Had Mina been right?

This whole thing about the hunter and her world was a conundrum for Snow. All her life she'd been told that killing was one of the worst sins you could do; it darkened your heart. She'd spent all this time fearing and regretting the consequences of killing Cora for one of those reasons.

But Mina killed constantly. She did it to protect people...and maybe out of vengeance. She was damaged and traumatized and angry but she still fought for good. Was her heart dark? She wasn't evil but she would never go back to the innocent girl they all were once. But that didn't make her irredeemable. It didn't turn her to the dark side. She just….did dark things sometimes. It wasn't the same.

Was Snow's heart even dark after killing Cora? Or did Regina create an illusion? Mina's questioning shouldn't continue to play in her head. It shouldn't make her doubt, not now, but it did. It left her more confused than ever.

Snow had done something bad to protect her family and the town. Regina was in a bad place at the time, she had cornered Snow and Snow didn't think she'd be able to get out of it alive. So she manipulated her. She knew she'd never get close to Cora to put it in herself...

...and she'd been so far gone that for a second she hadn't cared.

But if Snow believed that Regina could be the woman she used to be before Cora manipulated all of them, why couldn't Snow return to that? That was, even if her heart WAS dark?

It was the questions that went through her mind as she set out the next morning with Emma, Regina, and Rumple in tow. Snow refused to let Charming be in Dracula's hands. She couldn't lose him again. They were separated so much that Snow knew their luck was running out. She knew what he'd done to Jonathan and Mina's father.

They had to get him out, that was all there was to it. She'd gone to Regina early in the morning. She'd gone to Emma when she went for a drink of water. Rumple had been harder to convince. It was dangerous, and they might die. Snow didn't care, she had sat on her hands through Mr. Dark because she was pregnant, she couldn't sit on her hands while this monster terrorized her family and had her husband.

So Rumple went with them, because he believed that only he could keep them safe or get them out of there when they inevitably got in over their heads. Regina was weaker and Emma was still learning a lot when it came to her magic.

They didn't use skunk weed. They'd used it at the hospital. If Alina smelled it, she'd know they were coming. Rumple used some potion to hide their scent and used the last of the location spell to find where Charming was.

Snow didn't know whether or not it was surprising to find they were still in the same place that Mina and Emma had been held. They were confidant now, there was no reason to hide now that Dracula was at full strength.

"We're just here to get him out," Rumplestiltskin had told them before they left the house, "Anything else is risking too much since we don't have all our party with us."

Mina would never go for this. Neither would Neal. The only one that knew they were doing this was Belle and that was because she'd been awake with Rumple when they came to him.

Rumple was their best weapon here. He'd been against Dracula before. They'd made a plan. He would go in, grab Charming and use his magic to get them all out. Everyone else was here just in case it went badly.

They reached the house. Rumple put his hand on Snow's shoulder reassuringly and then he was gone. Snow notched her arrow in the bow she'd brought.

Purple smoke appeared right behind her. Snow glanced to the side to see Rumple had Charming. He was weak and pale. Snow saw his neck had several bite marks in it. His shirt had dried spattering of blood. Snow realized that she expected him to be covered in it, But she supposed that wouldn't make sense, they wouldn't waste.

Emma went to go to help take on her father's dead weight off Rumple.

The front door opened. Snow let loose an arrow. If Dracula got through, he would be fast. Snow had to time it just like this.

And her arrow found its mark. Right before Dracula would've raced towards them, the arrow embedded in his neck. It would've killed him if he was anyone else.

But he was this monster. The arrow made him stumble back for a moment in surprise. His cold eyes fell on her as he reached up and took the arrow out.

"Let's go," Rumple reached for Snow.

Something moved to their right, it slammed into Rumple and sent him flying into Regina. They both fell. Rumple's face hit the ground, and his body twisted at a sickening angle that might have fatally injured anyone else that wasn't the dark one at impact.

Emma fired her own gun at the second threat, Alina, but missed. Emma went down when Alina slammed a rock against her head. When that target was down, she raced away toward's Snow.

Snow tried to swing her knife, Alina caught the blade with her bare hand and snapped it. with a twist.

Regina went for her then. Firing fireball after fireball. Alina was on Charming in an instant, causing Regina to stop. If she fired again, the woman would use her to hurt Charming.

"No!" Snow raced for him. Dracula cut her off mid-run. He grabbed her by her neck and lifted her up in the air. Snow couldn't breathe, her body started to panic when it's airflow was cut off.

His fangs descended. Snow slammed the broken hilt into his side. He stopped and nearly dropped her from surprise.

He pulled her close. Snow shivered at the feel of his breath against her ear, "Emma must get it from you. Your husband doesn't fight near as hard."

Emma ran behind him with her gun, ready to fire in his skull. Snow glanced at her. Just a glance that lasted for less than a second. Dracula saw it though, and turned. He backhanded her hard enough to send her rolling on the ground.

"This is pathetic," Dracula whispered angrily, "If this is all it took to defeat my brother, I suppose he was far weaker than I thought."

He shoved Snow hard into the ground. Snow watched as he grabbed Charming and pulled him back into the house.

The house then gave a faint ripple. Snow didn't need to ask to know that it was magic. They'd left the house vulnerable just to lure them in and beat them back.

It'd been a test. HE was toying with them. And now he knew how desperate they were.

They were going home with far less than they'd started out with.

000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Neal had not meant to snoop in his son's room. Well, their room. Bae'd slept on an air mattress since he knew Henry might have a hard time. Dracula nearly killing his mom yesterday, he might not take it well.

But Henry wasn't forthcoming, he'd gone back into his little shell again. Neal wouldn't have known what was going on in his head if he hadn't seen it poking out of the pillow.

He knew what it was even before he pulled it back.

A gun, an old fashioned one that immediately told him where Henry got it from.

So when Henry came back with a pop tart in his hand, and his school bag in the other to TRY and do some schoolwork, he was waiting for him with the gun on the bed.

Henry tensed as soon as he saw it and then saw his father's grim face.

"I think you know we need to talk about this," he said seriously.

Henry closed the door behind him, so no one else could see, "I wasn't going to use it...its just in case he comes for me."

"Okay," Neal tried not to show the fear in his voice. Henry knew swords. He did NOT know guns, especially not untrustworthy antique guns. Articles and news stories played over and over in his mind as he remembered the stories where kids accidentally shot themselves or someone else. This was nothing to take lightly.

"Did she give this to you?" he asked. If Mina Harker had given this to him, they were bound for a LONG talk.

"No. I took it from her bag last night when mom was talking to her."

Oh thank god, that was one tiny crisis averted.

"You've never fired a gun in your life."

"How hard can it be? You pull the trigger."

"A lot more goes into it than that. Especially for a gun this old. And it's not really going to stop that monster, is it?"

Henry was quiet, "I heard Mina crying last night. Before that, I heard her destroy the room because she was was so angry and scared. I saw the fear in my mom's eyes because she was there when he came back. If they're scared...I'm scared too. what if he's worse than Mr. Dark?"

Neal heard his fear. What if he came after Henry again? The idea terrified him. His son should NOT have gone through all this, and it didn't look to be over yet.

He heard the door to Mina and Emma's room open. He sighed, time to be a dad.

"You gotta tell her, and you gotta apologize," he told him sternly.

Henry looked like he was ready to argue but stopped and nodded.

Neal opened the door, "Ms. Harker, a word please."

He went back into the room. He watched as Mina came in behind him. She looked even more haggard than usual, "I dozed off, I need to find Emma."

"Henry has something he'd like to tell you."

Henry stared at his feet, "I-...I took one of your guns."

Mina's eyes grew, "What?"

"I was scared and...and I'm sorry."

Mina glanced over at him, as if she was considering what she should do. Did she yell? Did she reprimand? Did she ignore it? It was understandable why he took it, but even she seemed to understand this was a big thing.

"I'm not going to get mad this time," Mina told him after taking a moment, "But you can't go through my things. There are items in my bag that could hurt you if you didn't know what you were doing. Do you understand? You cannot do this again"

"Yeah," he said quietly, "I understand."

Mina took the gun and looked it over, "This would not even slow him down should he choose to come after you. If you wanted to at least slow him down then you need to use the black revolvers. The bullets are covered in dead man's blood and holy water. But listen to me, you only use it as a last resort. There will be one on the nightstand should you need it, but only IF you need it. Not just in case you need it."

"Okay."

A door downstairs slammed open. There were frantic voices downstairs. Mina and Neal exchanged looks. Neal grabbed his sword, Mina grabbed the gun Henry had and they ran downstairs.

Everyone was downstairs, their voices overlapped. Neal saw his father was trying to heal them but he seemed to be favoring his own body.

"What the HELL?" Mina demanded

"What happened?" Red asked

"We tried to go after dad," Emma said as way of explanation.

Mina was horrified, "With no plan?! What the bloody hell, you all just went in blindly?!"

"All you do is sit there and plan," Regina snapped, "It didn't go anywhere and he still came back."

"How's that bloody my fault when all you lot-," Mina stopped, realizing what she was about to say.

When all you lot wouldn't let me kill Alina.

"Go on," Regina challenged, "Say what you thinking."

"Will that make you feel better?" Mina snapped, "You can't just do what you normally do, Regina. You can't just lash out in anger. He'll pick you off first. Working on your emotions may have worked for you before but not like this. You'll be a wife in no time and he's not too fond of children."

Not that Mina seemed to think that'd be a loss if she died.

"Let's all just calm down," Emma said, "This isn't going to do us any good."

"I've got work to do," Mina turned and walked back up the stairs. She slammed the door to her room.

Henry watched Emma quietly, "You left."

Emma knelt in front of him, "It wasn't to fight Dracula. We were just trying to get your granddad back and he was waiting for us. I'm sorry, Henry. We were trying to avoid getting into a fight."

Henry pulled away, Emma felt her heart break as she saw him putting walls up that she knew all too well, "I have schoolwork I need to do."

Emma let him go.

Neal stepped up to her and took her arm, "We have to talk."

0000000000000000000000000000

31 Years Ago

As soon as Snow and Charming returned from their honeymoon together, they set about purging Regina and George's memory from the kingdoms. They re-established trade negotiations, made alliances with those that once rejected their cause out of fear of failure, and went over laws meant to put their people under their heel.

The smaller things were harder. The people didn't have a lot of faith in the monarchy. The economy due to the war was in shambles.

For the first couple of months, the Regina problem was in the back of Snow's mind during the day. It made itself more apparent at night when she couldn't sleep. Regina couldn't hurt them, but she could hurt other people. Snow had hoped that she'd give up, maybe she had. But the way she'd come to her wedding and promised to destroy her happiness still unsettled Snow. Anything could be taken away in a moment That was a hard lesson Snow had to face when she lost everything thanks to Regina usurping the throne. She could just as easily lose it all again.

But things started to settle down and Snow could finally face the Regina problem.

"She hasn't moved from her castle," Charming told her as she paced their bedroom, "The scouts haven't said anything."

"But when we were dealing with her, we were so busy with her trial and her fate that we didn't have time to get to her prisoners."

"Because we were planning on imprisoning or executing her."

Snow tried to ignore it, her decision had been one of forgiveness, she had hoped that she could be at least the one example Regina could see. It hadn't worked.

"We can restore morale for the kingdom," Snow said, "We can get their hearts back, we can free the captives, we can give pardons to everyone that was forced into her services."

"And those that just did it because they're bad people who like hurting others?" Charming asked.

Snow bit her lip, "I haven't figured that out yet."

"What if those bad people say they were forced and go into our army to spy for her?"

"I haven't figured that part out yet either!" Snow narrowed her eyes, "I thought you'd be okay with saving everyone under her charge!"

"I am," Charming stood up from the bed, "Of course I am! But I also know that these things aren't always black and white. They have consequences. Since we're king and queen of two kingdoms now, we have to think about every contingency. We're responsible for thousands of people, many of which could die if we make one wrong move."

"And I know that too."

"We'll get them out," Charming promised her, "And then we can leave her behind for good and forget her."

Snow frowned, could they really forget Regina and everything she'd done to them?

"We can forget her," Snow whispered. But she knew that probably would never happen. Whatever Regina was, she would never stop.

000000000000000000000000000000

Present Day

With the threat of a squabble on the horizon, everyone had gone to their respective parts of the house to lick their wounds and cool off after the failed rescue attempt.

And now after Emma had to face that, Neal had to be the one to tell her that their son was squirreling away a gun that he'd stolen from Mina. Emma's face had been tense when he started. Neal knew that there was a part of her that wondered if he was going to start talking about their relationship. Then her face fell and grew even more tight as she realized that she really wished why he wanted to talk to her was because he wanted to chat about their relationship.

"I want to see it," Emma said.

"I gave it back to Mina."

Emma ran a hand through her hair, "He can't have it, he- IT's not a toy!"

"I know that. And he knows it too, which is why he took it."

Emma fought frustrated tears. They'd just started therapy, her son was starting to open up and now they were back at square one...or whatever the square before square one was. Emma remembered back when he was planning an armory at Jiminy's wake. why couldn't they just go back to that innocence.

"What do we do?" Emma asked, "I don't know how to comfort him from this. I don't know how to reassure him. How can I tell my son that he's not going to get hurt when the last villain just proved how accessible he was?"

"Emma."

"He saw it! He saw Mr. Dark almost win! He had to save ME from him in those mirrors. It should have been the other way around and now he doesn't have faith in me. I can't protect him and he knows it."

"You're panicking."

"Our son is coming apart! Of course I"m panicking. He-."

Neal went to grab her hand. Emma stopped and tightened the grip instinctively. When she realized what she was doing, she didn't let go, though everything in her screamed that she should.

"When was the last time you slept?" he asked.

"I don't have time to sleep," Emma muttered and went to stand.

"You know who you're starting to sound like? "

"Dracula's awake, Neal. He's at his full strength. His wife is just as much a threat as he is. They took our blood, they took my father. Our son stole a gun. Our monster hunter spends a third of her time numb, a third of her time crying, and a third of her time working frantically. My mother's a sleep deprived mess and Regina-. Well, there's things I know about now that I can't trust."

"You're not alone."

"I know," Emma whispered, "And I saw what that nearly cost the people that went my with my mom this morning. "

"You were trying to save your dad."

"I should have stopped this…insane idea when my mom came to me."

"Hey," Neal whispered, "Emma, you put too much on yourself."

"Let me guess, I can't save everyone?" Emma asked, "Don't you realize that it's my job to save everyone? Your father ensured that."

He stopped. The pain crossed his face. He knew very well what his father had done to all of them to get to this world and find him. He was reminded of it every single day everyone looked at him.

Emma realized it too, her face fell, "I"m sorry."

"No. You're not wrong."

"I shouldn't have said it. I know how you blame yourself. You shouldn't, I mean-."

"Neither should you."

Emma stopped, "I have this responsibility on my shoulders. And in the end, while I have support, it doesn't matter. I'm the savior and no one else can understand it. That's just how it is."

Neal put his hand on her shoulder, "That doesn't mean you're alone."

Emma hesitated. No one knew what it was like to feel her responsibility. Just like she imagined no one knew what it was like to be Baelfire, or Mina, or her parents. They didn't act like it was so impossible, so why was she?

She gave herself a bit of a vulnerable moment and leaned on him. He wrapped both his arms around her and pulled her tight.

"Come on," Neal pulled back, "Lets take a small break. I think Henry has a video game that'll help us get our minds off everything until everyone cools off."

"And then it's back to it."

"Then it's back to it."

Emma knew that a moment's distraction was what was needed for all of them, not just Henry.

000000000000000000000000000000000000

Snow went to be by herself when she full let it sink in that she'd nearly gotten herself, her daughter, her stepmother and their most powerful ally killed.

She'd been impulsive. And if they'd all died this morning, it would've destroyed Henry. It would've crippled their side.

But she'd been separated from her husband so many times. This wasn't like the curse where he slept. This wasn't like the separation after the curse where he was mostly safe. This was like Neverland, where he could die if they didn't save him fast enough. Snow remembered how that felt when she found out. How vulnerable she really realized they were again and again. They didn't have magic, they only had luck and wits to protect them. That made them a prime target.

He could be being tortured. He could be being drained. He was so pale and so weak when she'd seen him this morning.

What was happening to him now that they failed?

She saw Red standing in the doorway. She managed a shaky smile when Red came in with breakfast, "Hey."

"Thought you might want to eat something," Red told her gently and set out a plate full of breakfast.

"Thank you," Snow started to eat.

Red sat next to her, "You okay?"

Snow shook her head and wiped away a tear, "I messed up. I nearly got us all killed."

Red sat next to her, "Why didn't...why didn't you take me?"

"Because he broke your ribs yesterday. Because I wanted to leave SOMEONE to protect everyone in case it went badly."

Red took a moment, "I think...maybe it'll go better if we all work together."

"I know," Snow looked up at her, "But they wouldn't have gone for me going immediately after him."

"Maybe if the monster hunter goes against an idea, it's best to maybe listen."

"I can't leave him there. He's their hostage. They can kill him at any moment."

"He'd be stupid to do that," Regina came in and closed the door behind her, "He'd be losing his one hostage."

"Wouldn't be that hard to get another one," Red muttered and looked apologetically at Snow, "Sorry."

"No, I know."

Regina shifted from one foot to another. She didn't know what to do, usually she had been the one to cause Snow distress and revel in it. She hadn't comforted Snow since Snow was a girl. How was she supposed to comfort her now?

She was just standing there like an idiot and her girlfriend was watching, she had to do something.

Regina knelt down, "Hey. I had Charming captured before. George had him captured. Pan tried to kill him...he's always come through. He's a fighter. It would take more than ...whatever Dracula actually is to kill someone like him."

Snow curled up a bit.

"Look at me," Regina said, "We bungled this up on this half assed mission this morning but now we know where he is. All it takes is us trying to get him out. He has a shield in place but that can be broken if all of us work on it."

"But we'll have to fight two of them to get him out. We have one chance to get this right in order to kill him."

"I know, or he comes back to terrorize all of us again like he did to Mina and her father."

There was a moment of silence, "Her father? Her father's involved in this?"

Regina stopped. She'd revealed herself. Her talking about her father had been in the tapes that Regina had taken from the therapy. Mina hadn't mentioned it, not at least to Snow.

"Never mind."

"Well, that's important, Regina, isn't it?"

"It certainly is," Mina said from the doorway

They all stopped and looked over to the door. Mina was standing there in the door way, her arms crossed as she glared down Regina, "There are four who know my father was killed my Dracula. You are none of them. Who told you?"

Regina felt challenged, she stood up fully, glaring back, "That's none of your business."

"My past and it's privacy are none of my own business, oh that's a good argument."

"Regina," Red whispered.

Regina stopped. She didn't like Mina. After this morning she was aching for a fight, it wasn't a good combination.

But Red and Snow were looking. While Regina wouldn't even care about the latter one, Emma was down the hall with Henry. Any word from her mother might hinder the babysteps she was already taking to get custody of him again.

So would the truth, but Regina's hand was forced, "I wanted to know more about you."

"Look for a weakness, then?"

"Yes," Regina said truthfully, "In case I needed it. In case you came after me."

"You're certainly giving me reason the more you try to claim you're defending yourself."

"I took your tapes," Regina snapped.

Mina's eyes grew. If Regina took the tapes, it meant that one of the people she couldn't stand had listened to some of her most traumatic memories. She had heard her sobbing as she talked about the worst losses that she'd ever had to face. No one was to know those things, only Archie had heard them. She'd told Emma later only out of extreme trust.

None of it was for Regina's ears.

"You bitch," Mina growled, "You pathetic needy miserable parasite."

Regina scoffed, "Now listen-."

Mina's fist shot out. It collided with Regina's nose and she felt her feet go out from under her. She slammed on the floor with a grunt. She heard panicked shouting, and then there was arguing.

"Mina, you can't just punch people you don't like!"

"Bloody well watch me."

"Mina-."

"Tell me. Tell me right now how she's done anything different from Dracula. Why is she so worth keeping around. Does she even realize what she's done to hurt people?"

"Mina-."

"Or is she only sorry because she's caught?"

A door slammed. She looked up to see Mina had gone.

"Regina," Snow was helping her up.

"I'm fine," Regina snapped. Red pulled her up with her strength. She was more humiliated than anything. Years ago she'd been an evil queen. No one would have dared put their hands on her like that! She was someone to be feared and respected as a leader

And that would've drawn this bitch to her like a moth to the flame.

Snow had seen. Someone that smarted a lot worse than Red seeing.

"You listened to the tape-."

"Leave me alone," Regina muttered and left the room.

0000000000000000000000000000000000

31 Years Ago

It was harder than Snow had thought it would be to summon the energy and will to start heading towards the summer palace Regina was now relegated to. They hadn't told the small council at first but when they had, all hell had broken loose. It took everything Snow had to talk them into staying. After all, Snow couldn't be hurt and neither could Charming. THEY could be hurt though.

They'd turned it on her. Getting around "her men could kill you, they're not under a spell" was a bit tricky but somehow Charming had done it.

They were just SCOUTING after all.

And Snow was grateful that that's all they were doing because staring at the castle, Snow knew anything else was going to be bound for disappointment.

There was a small burrow of dirt in the grass. It extended far to their right and their left. That and the trees sheared in half gave them all the clues they needed to know that it was a magical shield in place.

Charming reached out.

"Charming," Snow warned.

He lightly touched it, it it gave a sharp sound and he drew back like he'd been shocked, "Looks like we won't be able to get through."

Snow looked at her mother's summer home in the distance. She felt an ache in her chest; she'd learned to walk there. She'd learned to shoot and read. Her mother had loved it and they'd used it as Regina's prison.

"We're going to need a magical being," Snow looked over to him.

"Don't say it," Charming told her.

"We need a solution and he can provide it."

"We just IMPRISONED him for what he did to Cinderella and Thomas! He ruined countless others lives! I swear, Snow, I don't trust him. I think he's hiding something."

"We need to get to those people in that shield."

"And we need a safe realm, which we won't have when he demands freedom or our firstborn for a price," Charming took a breath, "We'll ask Blue. The fairies helped us before, they can help us again."

"I don't know, their powers seem limited."

"Then we'll talk about it afterwards," Charming said, "But I will not owe him more, he's barely asked for anything from us thus far. I don't want that to change NOW."

000000000000000000000000000000000

Present Day

Rumplestiltskin still wasn't used to being helpless against his enemies. He was used to being a manipulative chessmaster, he had been in that position for centuries after he lost his son. He'd lost much of it since the curse was broken. They'd stripped it all away bit by bit until he was as much a manipulated victim as the rest of them.

Belle sat next to him, "You know, you scared me, going off like that."

"I know."

"And I was looking at all of them knowing that you'd all wandered off on a suicide mission and I'd promised not to say anything -."

"I'm sorry."

"Why? Why did you do something so risky?"

"Because I'm the reason they were all separated in the first place," he said, "Because I brought them all here. Because it's my Dark One's creator that hurt them. It's now Alexander's murderer. that has Prince Charming. I know what he's capable of, I was there."

"But-."

"There was a man named Renfield. He was the son of a hunter. He was a lawyer, like Jonathan. Dracula doesn't just feed on the men, he slowly drives them insane. When Dracula was done with Renfield, the man was in an asylum catching bugs to feed to spiders. Then he would eat the spiders to rats, and then he would eat the raps because he felt like he was inheriting their life essence. That's the fate Charming faces if we leave him alone for too long with them. We were risky, yes, but I'm not bringing my son or grandson near that thing. Nor would I want you or Mina near him either. You heard her breakdown last night."

"I can't forget it."

"It had to be us that left," Rumplestiltskin sighed, "We failed, but I wouldn't risk anyone else near him without me"

He didn't even want to risk Snow and Emma but they'd never have let him go without them.

Belle sighed and rested her forehead on his, "I went over thirty years held captive in a room, Rumplestiltskin. My mind was taken from me twice. You were taken from me by death and that carnival owner. I don't want to lose you again. You're the only one that-."

He looked up, curiously.

"You're the only one that loves me," she looked down.

"That's not true."

"After what my father did, you know it's true."

"You have friends, and Bae, he-"

"That I'm bonding with but they don't love me. You do. And if I lost you-," she bit the inside of her cheek, "I know you were alone for a very long time. You know what it felt like."

"I do."

"Please don't do something that risks that again. I know you think you're protecting me but you're needed here; and your'e needed alive."

"Okay," he looked down.

"Okay," Belle stood up, "I'm going to get us something to eat. I'm starving."

"The heroes cleaned out all the good food. I checked."

"No, I hid some of it. I Learned last time they were all here."

She gave him a kiss on the cheek and went downstairs.

00000000000000000000000000000000000

Belle left the room. On her way she passed a room with Snow talking to Emma, "She HIT her right off her feet?"

Not something Belle wanted to even ASK about .

She went downstairs. The kitchen was already a mess, Red was used to working in a diner so when she cooked for food, she cooked for multiple people. The excitement this morning meant that no one had cleaned up yet.

Belle wondered if she could assign chores in her boyfriend's house.

There was a figure at the backdoor.

Belle looked over to see who it was, if someone was out there, they might need their help.

She met his eyes, and that was all it took.

Belle felt everything strip away, al of a sudden nothing mattered. She didn't think about her family, she didn't think about what she had come down to do, everything was just gone. She opened the door. She wasn't supposed to, but she still did.

"Hello," the man said with an accent, "You must be Belle."

0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

 **31 Years Ago**

Snow had faith in Blue in a lot of things. She believed that Blue worked hard to keep the balance going and she owed her a lot for helping them when they decided to take the throne back.

But Rumplestiltskin sometimes felt he was more powerful and that was what she was looking for at the moment.

So she waited till her husband was away on peace treaty business, donned her cloak and went to see him.

Snow had not liked that they were keeping him in here, but they had to take into account that there would still be people seeking his services. A hole in a dungeon surrounded by their most loyal men that he couldn't manipulate was the only alternative at the time. A room in a tower was far too tempting. Even if they were able to station men up there, the towers were infamous for being covered in secret passages. All someone needed to do was find one that got them right in the cell.

Or he might find a way out.

"Snow White," Rumplestiltskin cooed as she walked into the dungeon, escorted by her guard, "I know it's' you under that robe. Pull it back and let me see that lovely face. I see too little of lovely faces here."

The guard narrowed his eyes.

Snow pulled the hood back and boldly met the Dark One's gaze.

He grinned and came forward, his hands closed on the bars used to keep him in place, "Shall I bow?"

"Have you ever to anyone?"

He spread his arms and bent at the waist, "For the new queen."

Snow bit her lip, "When you gave us the spell that kept Regina from killing us, I wasn't thinking about everything that could happen at the time."

"Has she sent an assassin?"

"No, but-."

"Silly me," he tapped his mouth thoughtfully, "That's too simple for someone addicted to complex plans. I can identify, you know."

Snow waited for him to be done.

"Your husband was in here yesterday."

Snow's eyes grew, "What?"

"So I know ALL about your little dilemma with the shield and Regina's castle."

"He wanted to go to Blue!"

"And yet he came here first. It told me all I needed to know about his faith in the oversized gnats, really. The same applies to you"

"Did you help him?" she asked, "Did you have a solution for getting through?"

"Of course, it's a simple spell if one's as into magic as I am."

"Then how do we get through?"

Rumplestiltskin let out a high pitched giggle, "You don't!"

"But you said it was simple!"

"Yes but countering it is still rough work dearie and you can't possibly match my price."

"What is it? Freedom? Better accommodations? You can't have my firstborn."

"I don't WANT your firstborn!"

Oddly enough, Snow felt almost insulted by the disgusted way he said it, "Then what do you want?"

Rumplestiltskin leaned back, like he was amused at the sight he was watching and wanted to get more comfortable, "I just have no inclination to help you."

"What? But- you can't resist a deal! Everyone knows that!"

"Perhaps I'm trying to change into a better person," He shrugged, "But you have nothing I want and none of Regina's prisoners hold anything I want either."

"They deserve to be free."

"You imprison me based on a deal your little friend makes, shut me in this hell and feed me whatever that slop is and then come down here in hopes for help?" he leaned forward, watching her intently, "I thought here I was being punished for all my misdeeds! I didn't know I was here for you to keep captive until you dragged me out when you're in need of something."

"That's now how it is!"

"I"d rather not have to watch you grovel like your husband did, it's un-kingly. You should tell him so. He needs all the help he can get being a barely literate shepherd."

Snow stopped, "There are innocent people there."

"Then deal with it, your'e queen now. You wanted a peaceful realm. I"m sure you can figure it out. You'll just have to figure it out without ME."

The guard came forward, "Your majesty."

"Yes, we're done here," Rumplestiltskin hissed.

0000000000000000000000000000000000

 **Present Day**

Mina did not want to be near anyone. What she actually wanted was to take her daughter and run for the nearest portal but she couldn't. So shutting herself away was as good a compromise as she could muster.

Any other monster she would run after, weapons ready, but this was different. This was _him_. He knew everything, he knew her fears, her knew her mind. Bloody hell, there wasn't anything about her that he probably didn't either know or guess.

He was the one that broke her.

And now her daughter was near him. He knew about Lizzie. He was probably making plans for her right now if she grew up. They could all die but he'd live on to terrorize her daughter and future grandchildren.

Centuries of attempting to kill him, and no one was any closer to making sure he was permanently dead. What were they missing? She and her family would never be safe until they made sure he was in the ground for good.

But what else could they do? They stabbed him, beheaded him, burned him, and spread his ashes at a crossroad. What else WAS there?

Someone knocked on the door, Mina ignored it hoping whomever would just leave her alone right now. She was missing something on how to kill Dracula, she needed to figure out what was going on.

"Mina," Emma stuck her head in.

"If you want me to apologize for punching Regina right off her feet, I refuse," Mina poured over her notes.

Emma slipped in, "You know you can't do that."

"She stole my tapes and she listened to them, those were for my daughter in case I died. They were because I needed to get them out. Regina had no right getting involved and then listening to the things I've gone through. She violated my privacy. How would you like it if she exposed some of your more private embarrassments"

"She did that already, my son had to find out he was born in jail back when we were fighting," Emma crossed her arms, "Well apparently Red listened too. You gonna punch her next?"

"It depends," Mina said, just to say something.

Emma went to sit next to her, "I know you've had a nightmarish couple of days."

"So have you."

"I know," Emma stopped, "And you're trying to change the subject."

"Indeed I am, we'll not get anywhere about the Regina situation. I'll not apologize and she won't change. It's best to move on."

"Fine. You wanna talk?"

"There's nothing to to talk about."

"Not even Henry stealing your gun?"

"Children in my world handle guns far younger than Henry, I don't see why it's such a big deal. Even my uncles taught me to shoot when I was about seven."

"Yes, but you were surrounded by them and they taught you how to use it. You weren't traumatized and in danger at the time."

"Which is all the more reason that he should learn."

"I don't want him to have to."

Mina stopped, turned and looked conflicted, "No self respecting parent would want that. No parent would want us to be the way we are. But we've had to. Maybe Henry has to as well."

"I'm his mother, I"m supposed to make him feel safe."

"Eventually he has to do things to make himself feel safe too, your'e not going to be able to protect him forever."

Emma hesitated and looked down, "He has the rest of his life to do that. He's still just a kid. He's still MY kid, just like Lizzie will always be yours. And when he looks at that gun, it's because….he's remembering all the times I didn't believe him, or save him. He's nearly died horrible deaths so many times. I don't….I don't know how to assure him he's safe when he's not."

"Then accept that he's not. You can't keep him innocent in a place like this. Instead, teach him how best to protect himself."

"By shooting guns."

"By doing whatever it takes, because his life is worth that."

Emma stopped, "It is."

"And I just pray that when Lizzie's old enough, you'll remind me of the very same thing, as I imagine I'll be in your shoes as well."

"Emma," Belle knocked on the door, "You should come downstairs. Mina too. There's a meeting."

Emma met Mina's eyes briefly and went downstairs to the dining room.

And there _he_ was, sitting there with her mother and Rumple, and Neal. Regina and Red were coming down behind him.

Mina started to back up in fear. Emma's hand found hers.

"I think you understand what's at risk if you attack us," Dracula told Emma.

Emma thought of her father, she thought of her son, brother, and Lizzie all here. Her mother sat too close to Dracula for comfort. Rumplestiltskin stood there with his jaw clenched. He was looking for an opportunity, the same as them. Emma had to play along until they found it, "I do."

"Good," He smiled warmly as Belle came in, her eyes and face were blank. Rumplestiltskin saw it too and dug his fingers in the chair.

"What do you want?" Emma demanded.

"A parlay of course. After yesterday and this morning, I think ti's time we all sit down and have a long talk."

"Don't deal with devils," Mina whispered, "They take what you refuse to pay."

They didn't have a choice.

Dracula gestured to two empty chairs, "Please. Sit."

"I can shoot him," Regina whispered.

"Quarters are too small," Emma saw he'd blocked off the escape routes, "Lets not have a repeat of this morning. We hear what he wants, then we shoot him."

"I can tell you what he wants," Mina whispered between two of them.

"You can shut up, my nose bled for an hour," Regina glared.

"I hope from now on, it hurts every time it rains, you bitch," Mina snapped.

Emma ignored them, they were snarking because they were terrified.

Emma sat down, Mina sat next to her. Her hand found Emma's under the table.

"So," Emma glared the demon down, "Lets talk."

Staring at Dracula, sitting so calmly at the dining table with them had Mina shaking so hard that Emma had to squeeze her hand for reassurance.

 _Kill him!_

Everything faded except for that one thought in Mina's mind, he was there, he needed to die. She had to kill him. she had a hidden gun on herself, she needed to reach around it right now and incapacitate him. They could figure out why he kept coming back later, they'd have years of time now that they knew he could resurrect himself.

He would come back; to Lizzie and Henry and baby Robert.

Not to mention she would be dead if she fired. Someone was moving upstairs. Alina was here too. If she fired on Dracula, Alina would go after them. She didn't have the same 'affection' that Dracula had for Mina.

He had to smell fear, or he had eyes because he looked at her and smiled, "You weren't in good shape when I saw you yesterday, but I have to say that now Mina, seeing you here; seeing what you are now, you're absolutely beautiful."

"Don't talk to her," Emma snapped and squeezed Mina's hand.

"And you're just as lovely," Dracula smirked, "A savior, Alina and Erebus told me all about you. Congratulations Rumple, you did what you set out to do."

None of them were fooled by his cheerful demeanor, Emma kept his gaze, "I think it's about time we talk about what you want."

"I think you know why I'm here." Dracula started fixing his plate with what little food they hadn't eaten.

"No, actually there are a lot of questions as to why you came to Storybrooke of all places."

"Your savior's blood could bring me back, I thought that might be obvious," he put the napkin in his lap, "Mina following us was a happy mistake on our part."

"I didn't even know you were alive," Mina hissed.

"And yet you found out I was, and you stayed."

"We both know at this point that you would not have let me fully escape."

"I want my dad back," Emma said.

"Hence the reason for the parlay. I have no wish to stay here any longer than possible, so I am here to suggest a way we might go our separate ways."

Mina squeezed Emma's hand. He was lying, whatever he wanted he could just take it and leave. Why was he here?

"I have no wish to underestimate you lot, I know what you're all capable of and I'm sure in your culture, it's very impressive. I'm here because I want to bring my family home."

"No," Emma refused to even consider it.

"I will take her and leave. I don't want anything to do with any of you, this isn't my home."

Mina was shaking harder now. It would be the hero thing to do to go with him. Everyone here…most everyone here deserved to live their lives to the fullest. She would do what she needed to do, her friends would be safe.

But she couldn't. She couldn't go with him. It wouldn't be death, it would be torture, it would be worse than last time. She couldn't bring herself to do that again. Not after Jonathan, her father, and Lucy.

"No," Emma said, "You're lying."

"Excuse me?"

"If you just wanted Mina, you would've taken her already, we're all here, you already proved it's hard for us to stop you. But you want something else, or you want her to come willingly. Well, she's not. She's not going anywhere with you. I know what you did. I know what you put her and Lucy and her family through. I know what you did to everyone else. I'm not going to let you take her off to do who knows what."

Dracula looked amused, his gaze slid over to Mina.

"Piss off," she snarled.

"You could come with me quietly. Snow would have her husband again. Now wouldn't you like to reunite a family and come back to where you belong?"

"I don't belong anywhere with you. You will never touch me again.

Dracula smirked, "It seems our Ms. Harker…is far more selfish than we give her credit for. Not very heroic to let a man get hurt or die."

And then Mina grew angry, "I"m not a hero and you're not a man of your word. Don't you know the rules here? Killing makes a heart dark. I'm positive that excludes me as some sort of good figure. And it takes a monster to kill a monster. I'll celebrate the fact you taught me to be cold and cruel when I"m cutting your bloody shriveled heart from your body, you weak cowardly son of a bitch."

Dracula kept his face impassive. But there was something dark and dangerous that crossed his eyes when she stood up to him. They all saw that deadly look. Mina physically took a step back, Emma paled. Rumplestiltskin summoned his magic just under the skin.

There was movement down the stairs. Mina knew immediately it was Alina. Henry wasn't graceful enough to make those light footsteps in the shoes he often wore.

Mina went tense when she saw the box in Alina's hands. She knew the box very well, they held the journals that her husband and friends kept. It had the articles about him, the texts Van Helsing had found. Everything they had about Dracula was in that box.

It was the last thing she had of Jonathan's beside a picture an the wedding rings now sewn into a leather band she kept around her wrist.

A strong smell of alcohol filled the air when Alina set it in front of Dracula. Mina saw the journals inside were soaked.

Jonathan's picture was inside as well.

And Mina knew what they were going to do.

She stood up instinctively to stop them, Dracula smirked with nothing but his eyes as he lit the match faster than anyone could react.

The box went up in smoke.

The blood rushed through Mina's ears as she pulled out her gun and started firing. It wasn't enough to kill him. But the bullets were powerful enough to at least knock him over for the moment.

He took five to the chest before Alina shoved her backwards hard enough into the stairwell crack the wall. Rumplestiltksin threw a fireball towards Alina. she dodged it, get behind Emma and threw her towards the fireball Regina had thrown. Emma barely avoided it. Alina didn't stop and raced towards Snow.

Mina reacted, Snow had just had a baby, she was emotionally a mess, she just lost her husband, she would be no match for that bitch. Mina had to get her away.

A gunshot went off.

Alina stumbled. There were two more shots in her chest, and she fell.

Mina saw the opportunity, she grabbed a chair and broke the leg. Alina was just getting up when Mina slammed it against her chest, piercing her heart.

"NO!" Dracula started to sit up. A third shot rang out, then a fourth. He hit the wall behind him.

"Henry! Put the gun down!" Neal screamed.

Alina was coughing up blood. She gave a curse and started healing. Mina sent a couple of hard kicks to her abdomen and grabbed the stake and drove it further to keep her down

Someone put a machete in her hand. She knew it was Rumple without looking.

Dracula started to sit up again. Dracula's eyes met Mina's. She saw the animal underneath it, she saw the rage and anger. Alina looked pleadingly at him for help but he never looked at her. In his mind, she was already dead.

"Turn away," Mina said to everyone else.

Alina pulled the stake from her chest, "You're dead-."

Mina brought the blade down. She did it again to separate the bitch's head and spat on her corpse for extra insult.

Mina turned to give the same treatment for Dracula but he was gone.

Then she managed to look up to see who fired the shots. SOMEONE had to fire the shots.

Henry, who had been left upstairs, had possibly hid when Alina was up there, had one of the guns Mina had told him about earlier today.

He had saved their lives.

But now there was a piece of him gone to achieve that.

"Henry," Emma raced up to him. She approached him carefully, also aware that mentally he was probably freaking out, "Henry, give me the gun."

He surrendered it without a fight when Emma took it. Emma wrapped her arms around him and he broke down sobbing.

"Get him upstairs," Mina said and looked down at Alina's body. She waited for the feeling of relief to sink in. Alina had cost the world a lot and she was now dead. There were 12 kids at least who were now avenged.

That relief didn't come. Mina felt nothing. She might as well still be alive, nothing had changed.

"We have to dispose of the body," Mina said.

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000

 **31 Years Ago**

Blue had been no help when Snow went to her for help. Apparently Regina had used powerful magic, something that might take years and plenty of fairy dust to get through. And that was only if Regina didn't catch them trying to bring the shield down.

So Snow was out of options for the moment. The Dark One refused to help her, the fairies couldn't. People were trapped in Regina's little shield and wouldn't be able to get out without being hurt.

She wasn't queenly. Her people were still in there with Regina. Countless lives were still destroyed, some might never see their loved ones again.

Snow had only thought about herself when she banished Regina. She had proved that when she stormed her wedding and still threatened them. And now Regina was locked inside the castle doing gods knew what and had prisoners at her whim.

There had to be ANOTHER solution.

Snow hadn't left Blue's services with just that news though, there was something Blue had confirmed. It was something big, something that she had to tell Charming.

She was sitting at dinner when he came in, "I think the spring storms are the worst we've had this year."

"The rain will be good for the crops," Snow muttered.

"Not if they're drowned," he kissed her cheek, "Hi."

"Hi."

He sat down, "I'm famished. I think the peace talks went well. I mean they don't think that I'll make a good king since I don't have any of the training. I managed to hold back my temper, I think you'd be proud of me. I still wish you'd come. YOu're better at the talking than I am."

Snow looked over at him. She bit her lip, "Charming?"

"Hm?" he bit into the chicken leg and looked up.

"I want to Rumple," she started, and before he could say anything, she cut in, "And I know you did too, so…..I don't want to fight."

He stopped, "I went because wanted to look at all options. He helped us before, he helped us a lot."

"He won't now."

"No, no he won't," Charming looked down, "I'm sorry, I should have told you. I wanted it to be a surprise. And when he refused to help, well….why tell you and disappoint you? We'll find another solution. Even if it takes years, we'll find a way to get them out. It'll just take awhile….and we'll have to find really really strong magic….and someone who knows how to wield it.""

Snow couldn't say that she was mad. She'd snuck in to see him too, "That's not everything I wanted to talk to you about. Charming, I'm pregnant."

He stopped, his whole body froze and he looked at her, "A baby?"

"That's generally what women get pregnant with, yes," Snow said through tears of happiness. She didn't think she'd ever see this day. The idea of carrying a child out in the woods was unthinkable. And then impossible when she was faced with George taking that form her.

It was impractical when they were at war. Now here they were in a time of peace and she was carrying the hope of the next generation.

She never thought she'd ever find herself _here;_ safe, married happy, and a baby on the way.

Charming was beaming as he moved towards her. He fell to his knees and clasped her hands, "We're having a baby? You're sure?"

"Blue told me. And I've felt sick and tired, I thought it was just us ruling, and- well…now that I look, there's a bump."

"How come I never noticed?!"

"We've been so tired during the night we haven't really had the energy to…you know."

He kissed her belly. Their eyes met and he stood up to kiss her as well, "I love you."

"I love you too"

He took her head in his hands, "We'll send word out, we'll ask for help. We'll get the prisoners out and reunited with their families. And we will have our son, or…daughter and we'll be happy."

Snow nodded and returned the passionate kiss.

She knew what her baby was; a little girl.

And she already had her name picked out.

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Regina was pacing the room, she had to get to Henry but they weren't letting her just yet, she had to help dispose of the body in front of them. Mina was there, eyes blank, the look of someone who had seen too much already and this was just another on a long list of things that would haunt her at night.

Emma stayed long enough to watch Rumplestiltskin set fire to Alina's body before she went back upstairs to see to her son.

But Regina was sitting there staring angrily Mina. She was a bitch, anyone could see that. She'd assaulted her for nothing more than seeing who Dracula was. But that wasn't so simple, wasn't it? Now that Regina had spent the last couple of days seeing her enemy, she was starting to see that the woman wasn't so fearless after all. She sat there quivering like a frightened child under his gaze before she'd snapped. He'd really ruined her life, hadn't he?

Regina had spent the last couple of weeks watching the bitch act like she wasn't scared of anything. She watched her judge her through those dead brown eyes of her. She watched her become bosom buddies with her son's mother and….actually have the audacity to speak to her son!

The woman's story in her own words played over and over again in her mind though. She remembered the woman crying and telling about how she'd been normal and happy until Dracula had taken most of everything from her.

Much like how Regina had been before Cora and the Dark One got ahold of her for their own agendas.

Why did Mina hold her accountable when she lived with the reason Regina turned evil in the first place?

Because Rumple hadn't pushed her to do half the things she'd done. Regina never had to cast anything to be happy, did she? She walked the path.

That was what the hunter would have said.

Mina looked at Regina. Their eyes met. Regina didn't see the emotionless look she'd told Emma and herself she'd seen, she saw a whole lot worse. She saw the look of her own victims being reflected back at her.

She saw her own fear.

Regina stopped, she should dismiss it. Who cares what the hunter would've said about her? She didn't know her, she was gutter trash.

No, she was educated. She was smart. She'd killed people and things like Regina. Things worse than her. How many of the excuses had she heard all her hunting life?

What if she was right and it was Regina's own fault that she ended up like this?

The deaths were her fault, all those people that she ruined, all those people that she killed.

" _What makes her so different to Dracula?_ _"_

All of a sudden the room felt like it was spinning. She couldn't blame the smoke, Rumple was controlling that. So she knew she had to get out. Regina made her quiet exit.

"Regina?" Red asked and went to follow her.

Regina barely made it out to the door as she started sobbing, realizing just how bad she'd strayed from the idealistic girl on the plains who wanted to marry the stableboy.

Reality came crashing down on her.

"I hurt all those people, I hurt you," she sobbed, once it started she couldn't stop, "It's not anyone's fault but mine."

What was so different about her than Dracula? A thousand things, she wanted to tell herself.

That wouldn't bring the people whose lives she ruined any justice.

"I'm sorry," Regina sobbed again. Red was at her side in an instant, "This is pathetic isn't it?"

"No," red told her gently, "No, it's a breakthrough."

It didn't feel like one. She clung to Red's hands as she further broke down.

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Rumplestiltskin had fortified the house with some of the oldest magic that he could safely summon up. He was lucky that it didn't drain half his life force in doing so. No one could hope to get in, unless they were powerful themselves. Dracula might be, he'd broken through the first shield.

Rumplestiltskin sat with Belle until she calmed down and went to take care of everyone else. Not that he wanted to…they were just…guests in the house. He was the host, so he had to be the one to take care of them. .

Mina was the last one he went to. He found her sitting on the window seat. She was staring out the window, her knees were drawn up against her chest. Gods, she looked so small.

"Hey," he sat on the window seat beside her.

Mina wouldn't look at him, "He shot Dracula and Alina."

"I know. I was there."

"Emma worries that she'll never be able to keep him safe. And then he goes and puts himself in the line of fire and saves us all."

"Yeah."

She wiped a tear away, "You know I thought it wasn't really so big a deal that Henry took one of my guns when Neal found it. Now I understand it more, I think. He had the look that some young hunters have. Bloody hell….is he okay?"

"Emma, Neal, and Regina are in there right now. I don't know."

Mina curled up tighter.

"Mina," Rumplestiltskin started

"Rumple," Mina looked up at him, "I'd really like to be alone for a bit. I just killed Alina and I need to figure it out right now and-."

"Hey," he cleared his throat, "So magic here has a lot good resources, "I know you've probably toyed around with some of it for awhile to protect yourself."

"This isn't helping me be alone."

He waved his hands. The journals that had been burned this morning were in his hands, perfectly restored from what they were. The picture of her late husband rested on top of them.

Mina sat up with a start, "What-."

"All I need are ashes. and there were plenty of those," he gave her the box.

Mina broke into a rare smile and looked at him, "Thank you."

Rumplestiltskin gave a warm smile and affectionately ran a hand through her hair.

Even if it was the little things that he could do, he could do his best to give it to her.

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Neal ushered his son upstairs as soon as Alina was dead. He locked them in the bedroom and armed himself with a gun. If they weren't going to escape Dracula, he could at least slow him down long enough for Henry to try and escape.

But Dracula left, he ran away. Henry broke down as soon as they were safe. Emma was up there, soon after. They both sat there with him clinging to him, "You're going to be okay."

"I shot them. I know Mina said not unless it was a last resort, but I was trying to protect everyone. I"m sorry."

"There's nothing to be sorry about, hey," Emma told him, "Hey, you're a hero."

Henry wiped his tears away, "Will my heart go dark?"

"No," Emma said sharply, "No, you were protecting us. He was going to take Mina. Lizzie would've lost her mom. You saved them and you saved us from risking getting hurt when we went to fight for her and Charming. Why would your heart go dark."

"Because grandma's did."

"No it didn't," Regina said coming in. Emma tensed when she saw her. But she didn't say anything when she saw Regina's face, "I faked it. I faked it to hurt her after she manipulated me into killing Cora. I was in a bad place then, in a lot of ways I still am. But I"m sorry, Henry. I never thought…you'd think your heart was dark and it would come to this."

He wiped his tears away. Emma pulled him closer at first but moved back a bit to let Regina comfort him as well.

The time to figure out the rest of this mess would happen later, right now Henry needed his family, every single one of them that he could get.

00000000000000000000000000000000

Rumplestiltskin didn't eat dinner, he stayed mostly to himself. They all did. He left to spread Alina's ashes and then he was back in his room going through the copies of the journals he'd made when Mina let him borrow them.

Jonathan's handwriting was awful.

Belle came in after her shower.

"Are you alright?" He asked.

"No," Belle crawled in bed. Rumplestiltskin wrapped his arms around her and pulled her over to lean on his chest, "Just hold me."

He tightened his protective grip on her.

"Dracula said an odd thing this morning," he muttered.

"What's that?"

"He talked about his brother and us winning over him."

Belle looked up, "He did?"

"I don't think he came in here by chance."

"Whose his brother then?"

"The only ones we've fought are George, Greg, Pan and Mr. Dark."

"Well one of THOSE tings is certainly not like the other," he muttered.

"You think he came here after Mr. Dark did because they're related?"

"I don't know."

"What a terrifying thought."

Rumple wrapped his arms tighter around his partner, he kissed her hair and closed his eyes, "Indeed."

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It wasn't a reward for feeling badly. Red had laid that ground rule down immediately. Regina still had a long way to go and both of them knew that.

But after these past couple of days, they both needed a way to release. Red called her grandmother to check in, say she loved her and they were safe, and then she and Regina had started to talk more. Talking while alone in a bedroom never ended well for them and now here they were.

"I need to go check on Henry in a bit," Regina muttered.

"I think if you do that, you'll wake him up," Red told her. All three parents had stayed with him until he went to sleep. Neal would sleep on the air mattress like he had been in case Henry woke up.

Henry would wake up.

"I may let him sleep in there, but he still doesn't know my son like I do," Regina threw the covers back. She pulled a robe over herself and stood up.

It was a quick in and out check. She saw her son sleeping curled on his side. Neal looked up with a start when the door opened slightly. Once he saw it was her, he scowled, "Emma's checked three times! We're fine!"

Regina ignored him, took a moment to memorize her son curled up in the bed and then went back to her and Red's room.

Her robe hit the ground.

"He okay?"

"Yeah, he's sleeping still," Regina gave her a kiss.

Red returned it, "We should probably talk about this. In the morning."

"In the morning," Regina agreed.

"I"m still not tired."

"Neither am I," Regina moved on top of Red.

After all, she'd have to have something to do for the next hour until she went to check on Henry again.

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Mina didn't leave her room that night. She didn't want to see anyone. Emma didn't come to bed, Mina figured she was probably with her son and gave him some privacy. She didn't think it was her place to be near them right now.

She still hadn't stopped shaking from having Dracula this close in two days.

Lizzie slept in the bed next to her. Mina watched her for a few moments, memorizing her little face. Lizzie had her hand tucked under her chin while she slept. She was growing so fast, Mina was going to have to make her new clothes again.

Or buy them. Apparently there was a wide selection here.

Mina sat with the box of journals in her lap and held the picture of her husband thoughtfully. Magic hadn't really given her a lot of help except for the charms and potions that protected her sometimes.

But this….this was irreplaceable, the last things she had of Jonathan.

Mina put the picture back in the box. Alina was dead. Dracula was about to go on the warpath. Now was a time to rest, she had a feeling it was going to be a long next few days.

She turned out the light and pulled her baby close. And she tried to get some sleep.

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The more Emma tried to keep Henry safe, the more his innocence was lost. No matter what she did, she couldn't protect him from these little demons slithering around this town looking to hurt them.

Why did he have such faith in the beginning that she could save them? What was the cost when more and more of his hope was getting ripped away. Pan had gone after him because he had the heart of the truest believer. What happened when he didn't have that anymore? What happened if it disappeared because she couldn't protect him?

All his life she'd barely been there. This was just another in a line of failures.

Emma didn't go sleep in the bed with Mina that night. She chose another room. She was already curled up in the bed when the door opened. She had her back turned to it, she hugged a pillow against her chest.

"Are you alright?" she heard Snow whisper.

"No," Emma sobbed.

She heard her mother close to door to her own room and come in, "Do you want to talk about it?"

New tears fell down Emma's face, "No."

She felt the bed slowly dip under her mother's weight as she went to lay down with her. No words were said. None were needed. It was a mother comforting her daughter all the same


	8. S04E08 - Revenge

Alina was dead.

Dracula had refused to think about the fact that his powerful beautiful wife of five millennia was taken from him by a child and the woman that helped kill him before. It was ridiculously simple. The bullets had been coated in dead man's blood and holy water. It would kill younger vampires, but it would stun someone like him. They'd moved fast and Alina was dead, she couldn't have been saved. They would've gone after him next if he'd tried to save her.

He raced in his home and collapsed on the floor. He curled up in agony. It wasn't the physical pain. He'd been shot before plenty of times. He'd drink from the prisoner, he'd yank the bullets out with pliers and that would heal him.

But the pain was actually far worse. Alina was killed in such a low humiliating way that was beneath someone as old and powerful as her.

It was so human.

His heart was ripped apart, he kept his eyes closed and screamed angrily into the floor.

She had been with him through everything. Even when he came to her to take his revenge on her father, Alina went with him willingly She was his wife ever since. He strayed for practicality's sake, and she knew that. 5 millenia was a long time to be married. And there were plenty of hunters who were either turned for his pleasure and her company, or they had daughters that he used for his own means to hurt those that hunt him. It was political and she knew it. He HAD to turn them, but he didn't love them like he loved her.

He still loved her most of all, all the others were dead now.

And he was alone.

Dracula tried to move, but the pain forced him to stop. He rolled on his back and let out agonizing gasps of breath.

He had never been alone. Above or in the Underworld, he always had someone.

They killed Alina, they shot her and decapitated her. She was worth more than that.

He would spend the day recovering and mourning

And when night came, he would take his revenge.

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Emma didn't sleep well, even with her mom with her that night. When morning broke, she got out of be and started breakfast. She made Henry's favorites and made him hot cocoa with cinnamon.

She found Henry sitting on a window seat in his room, "Hey, I brought you some breakfast….in case you were hungry."

"I"m not really hungry," Henry muttered.

Emma put the tray to the side and sat down, "You wanna talk about it?"

She saw he wanted to refuse, but he finally looked at her, "Did you ever kill anyone?"

"No," Emma said, "But I've been responsible for people dying."

Graham when he chose her. Henry when he ate the turnover.

And this was going to get worse before it got over.

"You didn't kill Alina though, you should know that," she told him.

"I helped though."

"You saved us."

"I've never seen anyone die before. Even Pan went up in light with grandpa. I never….," his voice broke, "She cut her head off….and I helped because I shot her."

"Neither one of you had a choice."

"I know," Henry muttered, "Is she mad that I took the gun again?"

"Nah," Emma stroked her son's hair, "If there's anyone that understands that you did what you felt you had to do, it's her."

Henry hesitated and went to lean towards Emma. Emma wrapped her arm around him and pulled him close.

"It's okay."

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Red knew that listening to the tapes was wrong even before Regina pressed play. She told herself that it was for the best, they needed to know what sort of person Dracula was, what he was capable of. But when she saw Mina's face, and she realized how much that betrayal meant, she realized they didn't have to take it this far.

There should be limits. Even if you did feel like you had to do darker things.

Mina was their ally. It was different.

Red had to make it right. She and Regina both agreed they'd apologize separately for what they did. Regina would have a harder time, her face was a bit bruised from where Mina popped her.

"Breakfast?" Red asked as Mina was cooking.

Mina just looked at her, her face emotionless, "Yeah well Emma made herself and Henry breakfast and left the supplies out for the rest of us. Might as well get something done while I wait to see who makes the next move."

Red crossed her arms awkwardly, "I've been meaning to talk to you."

"I'm not in the mood to talk right now, I have a lot on my mind."

"Well, I need to."

Mina stopped and shifted her height, "What do you want?"

"I'm sorry….for listening to the tapes with Regina. What I…what WE did was wrong. I was against it at first….and then he came back, and you were panicking, it seemed like we should. I wanted to find out about this man and Regina was trying to get an understanding of you as a whole."

"She wanted to find a weakness."

"Yes."

"In not just him but in me as well."

"That was the nice way of saying it. She's worried you might turn on her next."

"One wonders why that might be with excuses like that," Mina grumbled.

"I'm not here to make excuses. I'm here to apologize. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done it. I knew it before but I felt it was a necessary evil until I saw how much it hurt you."

Mina's tense demeanor faltered, "Frankly I'm disappointed. I expected better from you."

"I know."

"I saved your life. I shot my hunting partner to save you. Do you know what sort of death sentence that would bring for me in the hunting world?"

"I can imagine."

"I did it because I felt it was the right thing. Because I felt you were innocent and were trying to be different from the werewolves that ruined his life."

"I know."

"And it was risky. Werewolves are bloody well HARD to discern. There are many that don't know. There are just as many that pretend not to know but do and don't say anything out of fear or the love of violence. There are those that know, and pretend not to and control it just to hurt others. I risked a lot to save you, because I hoped you were good."

"I"m still good," Red argued.

"Not if you keep on like that."

"Well I said I was sorry!"

"Good! Apology accepted!"

"Well fine!"

"Fine."

They stared at each other.

"Bloody hell," Mina sighed, "The walls are closing in, aren't they?"

Red let her defenses slide. She understood what this all had to be like for the other woman. They were snippy. After yesterday with Dracula and Alina, they had to be.

"What are we going to do?" Red whispered.

Mina stared down at the counter, somehow looking up at the werewolf seemed so…..exhausting, "I don't know."

000000000000000000000000000000000000000

 **Many Years Ago**

Ever since she was a child, Regina had been confined to her parent's estate and the lands. She was not allowed to go beyond those borders, but she knew that there were towns nearby that her mother profited off of.

So when she was seven, she begged her governess to take her with her to fetch some things. Her mother would've been furious if she knew, but her governess thought that she should interact with girls her own age. She should see what it's like past the green hills that her family owned.

So Regina wore her best plain dress, her governess left her hair in a long braid falling down her back.

"Do not wander off."

"I won't," Regina trotted after her.

"And do not talk to strange people or follow them."

"Why not?"

"Because you will understand when you're older," Malaya told her. Malaya was a year older at eight, she was Governess Norma's daughter. She thought she knew everything.

Regina wondered if she only made up stuff she said she knew about.

Regina's eyes grew as she saw the market. She'd never seen so many people, not even during the week long visits by people coming to estates for her parents to hear their complains and collect their rent.

Every booth had food, and jewelry, and animals, and cloth, and toys. Regina tried to memorize everything in front of her. She wanted everything! There was so much of it.

Her mother would faint if she knew Regina was here.

Or worse.

Norma stopped to examine some fabrics, "Which sort of dress would you like, Regina?"

Regina looked at Malaya, "The red one?"

"The red one."

"Then we can match!" Regina said confidently.

Malaya grinned, "Mama, the red one."

"Sorry love, not for us," Norma picked a grey one instead.

Malaya scoffed, "Why?"

But Regina knew, "Because your'e still servants. And mother would never allow the servants to dress like nobility."

"Just the way it is, love." Norma pat her head, "Why don't you two see what toys you might like. You can pick one each."

"Hopefully, whatever I might like instead of one that shows my servant status," Malaya muttered.

Regina stopped when she saw a beggar woman holding a wrapped up baby in her arms. Her heart went out as soon as she saw how thin she was. Her greasy matted hair was in clumps around her head. She smelled like she had't had a proper bath in days….weeks even.

Regina had never seen a real beggar before. Oh she knew some stayed near the back door of the kitchens to get scraps, but Regina would never be permitted to go that way of the house.

She looked towards the closest booth. There were plenty of apples. It'd been a wonderful harvest this year. Surely no one would miss just one? And even if they did, her mother would pay for it. It was a pittance after everything they'd done. Her mother made sure they always had healthy crops as long as she was kept happy. They owed her THAT much at least!

So she snatched an apple and ran to give it to the woman.

The woman was startled at first. But when she saw Regina meant no harm, she reached out to take the apple.

Leaning forward, Regina tried to get a look at the baby. Maybe she could find a way to get some money and help them. A baby shouldn't live in the streets.

But then she realized there was no baby in the blanket. Just piled clothes.

It was a trick.

And then a town guard's hand closed on the back of her braid.

000000000000000000000000000000000000

 **Present Day**

Red wasn't there when Regina woke up. So she dressed and got out to look for her.

"She went out," Snow told her, "To get us some supplies. She said the cabin fever was closing in and since she can run about as fast as a vampire…"

"Oh," Regina felt a bit of disappointment. She wanted to talk to Red. She wanted to try and figure out where they stood now. Was that even a right time? Who was she kidding. If they waited to talk about their feelings for a more appropriate time, they'd never get it. Not with the conga line of villains that came through here.

"I'm sure she'll be back soon," Snow told her.

Regina watched her. Snow was quiet, she was paler than she usually was and that was saying something, "You okay?"

"I'm fine," Snow said quickly.

Regina struggled to try and find the right thing to say. She should apologize, for the years of what she did. She knew now what her mother was. She'd known all along really. Snow was ten. Regina had been ten once.

But after years of being angry, that feeling just didn't go away. What would she have otherwise? Knowing years and years had been wasted for being angry at the wrong person and letting go of that was a horrifying concept. Emptiness would be left behind.

She wasn't….angry at Snow anymore. She was just tired. Even that was something to hold onto.

And after all this time, a simple 'i'm sorry I did all this to you and your family' didn't seem to feel right. It didn't feel like enough. But what was?

"I slept with Red."

DAMMIT. Why did THAT come out of everything she could have said?

Snow just looked even more tired, "I'm sure you're very happy."

"I'm not," Regina whispered, "Because it was just to feel something. It was just so I wouldn't go to bed alone last night. It wasn't because we love each other. It was because something bad keeps happening and we needed a way to feel in control."

Snow just watched her, "A lot of bad things have happened this week."

Snow didn't even know if Charming was still alive or not. Regina realized how stupid her love life seemed to sound, "He won't kill Charming, Snow. He's too effective a hostage. And he's strong. Dracula would keep him alive. Mina says so and if anyone knows, it's her."

"You hate Mina and now you're backing up her beliefs.."

Regina swallowed, she was trying to make Snow feel better and this is what she got, "She doesn't hate YOU. She would have no reason to lie. Nose breaking bitch she might be, she would still know."

"You shouldn't have listened to her recordings," Snow reprimanded.

Regina had had time to think about it in the many times she got up to go see Henry sleep and make sure he was okay. She was starting to realize how wrong it was, "Yeah, I know."

She'd played right into Mina's belief about her.

"So, you should apologize."

Regina scoffed, she might get knifed if she went to Mina again. She and Red had talked about it last night but now that they were all awake, Regina was hesitating, "I doubt she'd accept."

"Is that any reason?"

"Isn't it?" Regina shifted, "You apologized countless times, and I never accepted it. I still hated you."

"And now?" Snow tried not to sound hopeful.

"Now," Regina looked around, trying to find some sort of exit but there wasn't one, "Now I guess I'm more open to the idea of working through things."

That was the best she could admit for now.

Snow tried not to beam, but Regina could see the hope in her eyes.

"It's Mina's decision on whether or not she should forgive you," Snow said, "But it's still on you to apologize."

To admit she was wrong to THAT woman was unthinkable for Regina. But she would have to swallow her pride and do it. They needed to all stick together, they'd lost the fight three times this week to the bigger monster here. He couldn't be defeated if they were all divided.

"Because it's the right thing," Regina muttered sarcastically.

"Because it IS the right thing," Snow told her.

Being good sucked.

00000000000000000000000000000000000000

Belle had plenty of books to get through, anything that she could find about how to permanently kill a vampire would be helpful.

But the problem was that every single vampire Mina apparently killed had stayed dead. So why was Dracula different? Mina would've surely noticed if any others came back, wouldn't she? Or had she just killed so many in her roaring rampage of vampire revenge that they just all started to look the same after awhile?

Belle hoped it was just because Dracula was special. Imagine killing so many monsters that they started losing their identity other than 'monster' to someone so full of hate that it blinded her.

"Hey," Bae spoke and got her attention, "Your'e a thousand miles away."

Belle was brought back. The house and it's activity started up again. Belle heard Snow's son and Mina's daughter in the bassinet baby talking with each other. She heard the TV going with no one watching. In the distance, she saw Emma, Mina, and Rumple all circled in a corner talking in hurried whispered tones. Belle couldn't see Rumple's face but she could see Mina and Emma's. Both looked desperate, she couldn't hear Rumple's response.

The situation with getting Charming back was getting dire.

Dracula still hadn't retaliated for Alina's death. They were all on pins and needles waiting for it. The town was on further lockdown. Anyone risking going outside was putting their own life in their hands. If anyone saw anything suspicious they were to call immediately. The phone rang sometimes, sending everyone into a terrified silence but thus far, nothing had come of it.

"I don't know if we're going to find anything here," Baelfire closed the book and ran a hand through his hair, "The words are staring to blend together."

Belle bit her lip, "You should take a break."

"I'm not going to leave you alone."

"Well, I'm starting to think that the answer was never written down. IF it was, Dracula would be dead by now."

"Or maybe Dracula somehow escaped….a curse or a spell or something that made it easier to kill other Vampires.

"I doubt it, someone's in his corner."

"Maybe it's like the Dark One thing, like he's somehow connected to a vault."

Belle looked up excitedly, "And he could be get out if his wife isn't letting him out of something like a vault?"

"Maybe we can find the vault. Maybe we can find where the key is and destroy it. He'll never be able to come back."

"It's a possibility!" Belle stood up, "We should go talk to Rumple about it-."

She turned to call for her boyfriend and friends but they were gone.

"I should go find them," Belle stood up, "Ask him what he thinks."

"I'm going to go see Henry," Neal stood.

Maybe that was the way. Maybe if they killed him this time, there'd be no way for him to come back.

But how did they know that he was connected to a vault? It was just guessing.

Henry was sitting at the window still when eh peeked in. A barely eaten lunch was sitting to the side of him, "Hey buddy."

"Hey."

"I didn't know you had lunch."

"Yeah, mom brought it up. Regina mom. Emma brought breakfast. Are you here for my snack?"

"Nah, just," he sat down and hugged the pillow to his stomach, "Just checking on you."

"I don't feel any better."

"Yeah, the first time you have to do something bad to protect yourself or other people is rough."

Henry looked up, "You know about it?"

"I was in Neverland for 200 years, that's all I knew for a very very long time until I escaped."

"I know it hurts," Henry curled up, "You don't have to talk about that point of time in your life."

"No I…I want to. I want you to know where I came from. I mean, I'm your dad, right? You should know….if you want to."

Henry hesitated, but finally nodded, "We might get separated before I know. Or I might die again. Fourth time's a charm, right?"

"Henry," Neal said.

"Tell me about your life," Henry pleaded.

Neal nodded and took a breath, and he told his son about his time in Neverland.

00000000000000000000000000000

 **Many Years Ago**

Regina had been taken back to her mother. They knew who she was, Norma had intervened and told them her identity. She offered to pay for the apple herself but the guard was having none of angering her mother by letting her daughter roam free and took her straight home.

And now she stood shaking under her mother's withering glare.

"You stole."

"There was plenty!"

"You left the estate and you stole from a vendor to feed someone."

"She was a beggar! She was hungry! She had a baby…I thought it was a baby."

"How is an apple to help a baby?"

Well it sounded stupid NOW!

Regina looked over at the beggar woman holding the bundle under her arm. Cora looked over too and went to stand. The beggar woman fell to her knees, "Please, you're grace, have mercy."

"I suppose I should," Cora walked to stand in front of her, her voice was calm, but Regina knew when she was angry. When she was angry, she was dangerous, "I suppose you taught my daughter a valuable lesson today. So I suppose I can spare you."

Cora reached into the woman's chest. Norma pulled her daughter's face into her skirts, Regina backed up into the guard, who still had her by the coat. He was the only one that didn't react. Regina looked up to see he had the same blank look in his eyes that the beggar woman immediately got when her mother ripped out her heart.

"You'll be useful finally," Cora said, "A fine upstanding member of society as you work in the kitchens."

"Yes, my lady," the beggar said blankly.

"Go take a bath," Cora went to sit back in her chair, "Or three."

The woman bowed and went to leave.

Cora put the newest heart in a box.

Regina's father came in, "Regina, are you safe."

Regina managed a nod through her tears

"Don't coddle her," Cora warned, "Take her to her room and shut her in. She left the estate, she needs to stay in there until she's ready to obey."

"She's a child."

"She won't be forever," Cora snapped, "And other children obey. Take her to her room."

Henry put his hand on her shoulder, "I'm sorry, dear. Just lets go."

When they were leaving he bent down, "I'll try to talk to her once she's cooled off."

Regina was shaking. The last time she was in her room, her mother took her things away and she sat there for two weeks unable to leave.

Their guardsmen opened the door. Regina looked back to see her mother turn to the governess and her daughter.

"Now as for you two."

And the door shut, cutting her off.

She never saw Norma again.

000000000000000000000000000000

 **Present Day**

Regina had needed a lot of mental assurance and about four glasses of wine to convince herself it was time to apologize to Mina. It was the right thing, it had to be. She violated her privacy after all. She listened to the tapes looking for a weakness.

Like Mina hadn't gone around listening to people and getting an idea of what Regina's own weaknesses might be. She was here for days before she revealed herself to Rumplestiltskin.

But Henry was her weakness and Mina never exploited that.

She did pull a gun on her and hit her since they met. Maybe Mina should apologize for THAT.

Regina could hear her mentally laughing now, that bitch.

When she finally got Mina by herself, Mina had left a meeting with Emma and was looking frustrated. She only looked more scowly (if Mina could possibly look more scowly) when she saw her, "What do you want?"

Regina almost balked, "I came to apologize."

"Yeah? For what?"

Ha, Regina even knew this time, "Listening to your tapes. I should have respected your privacy."

"Yeah, you should have."

"I'm sorry."

"How did you even know where they were?"

"I….spied on you."

Now that Mina was glaring at her, Regina was realizing maybe that was rhetorical and answering it made it worse, "Bloody hell, you're unbearable."

"Like you're any better. You have just as much blood on your hands as I do."

"Lets not get into a comparison contest between killing, Regina. Even you know better than that. I did what I had to do to protect people, you did what you did because you wanted everyone as hurt and miserable as you were. You lashed out blindly, you destroyed countless lives. Don't compare me to you. I'd have put you in the ground in a heartbeat if I'd been alive back in your day."

"Yes, but the point is that you weren't alive. Your parents were in another world and I never hurt them. You have no right to despise me as much as you do when the people I hurt most forgave me."

"You don't get to decide who you hurt most," Mina snapped, "And you don't get to decide how I feel about what you spent years and years doing. Your victims may coddle you but I don't. I spent eight years dealing with victims of monsters like you. I experienced first hand the pain that those like you leave behind."

"I'm finally starting to understand what I did and what it meant!"

"Congratulations, it only took you over 30 years of being an adult."

Regina glared, "You came here not wanting to give me a chance. Your mind was made up but you'll trust those like Rumplestiltskin-."

"Rumplestiltskin doesn't demand I should like him because he's good now. Don't think for a second that I came here not believing in something like redemption. I actually do believe in it. I hope for it."

"For everyone but me, it seems."

"One can't make up for decades of destroying lives in so little time as you've decided to change."

"A monster hunter believing in redemption, that's a joke. How many were killed by you before they could achieve it?"

"I may believe it's possible, but my first responsibility isn't to the monsters that hurt other people, it's to their victims. You're lucky this family here feels enough pity to for to constantly forgive you. I wouldn't be as nice, nor would anyone else. You should thank them constantly every day for giving you chance after chance."

Regina glared, "You have no right to talk to me like that when I'm trying to be a good person and apologize."

"And I accept your apology," Mina snapped, "But that doesn't mean I have to like you or respect you."

Regina felt challenged and when she felt challenged she was eager to beat someone at their own game. She didn't think Regina could change this fast or be good? Well Regina would prove her wrong, "And then what will it take to achieve this impossible bar of redemption you set?"

Mina leaned forward, "How about seeing people for people and not what they could get you for starters."

"I have."

"Oh have you?"

"I returned the hearts to the people I took them from."

"To make your girlfriend notice you, no doubt."

"I was there when we went to go save Charming, it may have failed but I was there with Snow and Rumple and Emma to get him back."

"Well congratulations, you did a human thing. That's one"

"You set the bar too high."

"I set the bar high for a reason," Mina hissed, "Because maybe your family sets the bar too low and that's why you trample all over them with your insults and your revenge missions. They're good people. They're forgiving people. You use that to your advantage. But I'm not good or forgiving and I don't owe you anything."

Regina was getting pissed, "Well maybe I'll prove you wrong."

"You think I want to be right about you?"

"I think you'd be desperate to be right so you can point your finger and scream I told you so to anyone that'll listen."

"Oh Regina," Mina sighed, "The thing about you is that I don't CARE that much."

"Well, you're wrong about ME"

"Fine, prove it.," Mina poured herself a drink, "But be prepared, it may take a lifetime. Being a hero is a life sentence and it rarely ends well."

"This will be different."

"Will it?"

"I'll have my happily ever after."

Mina chuckled, "Good luck with that."

00000000000000000000000000000000000000

Mina was not harsh, she wasn't going to let some whining dethroned queen make her think so. She set the bar high, yes. She set it high for a reason. If she set it low and forgave those who wronged her or wronged others, she would be dead. That was just how it was done.

But she needed to cool off. She couldn't just run around pissed off at this world's super ability to forgive.

Bloody miracle there wasn't a thousand like Regina.

Perhaps there had been. They just weren't in Rumple's pocket like she had been.

After Mina fed Lizzie and put her to sleep, she went wandering. She found the door after about ten minutes or so and knocked on it when it was starting to get dark. She didn't want to be alone and hse didn't want to really deal with anyone else in the house at the moment.

"Hey," Henry said quietly.

"Hi, mind if I come in?"

He looked down at the dinner plate, "Grandma already fed me."

"I'm still trying to figure out this world's appliances, I would not force you to eat my cooking," she came in, "May I sit down?"

"I don't really want to talk."

"That's okay. I'm just in the mood to sit quietly for awhile. I have….a lot of thinking to do."

he cleared his feet, she sat down on the window seat next to him.

It was at least a comfortable silence.

00000000000000000000000000000000000

 **Many Years Ago**

Regina never saw Norma again, but when she saw Mayala again, her best friend when she'd been seven, when she was fifteen and holding court with her mother.

Mayala was her age, but where Regina was coming into her form, Mayala was lithe. Mayala was small, but she was strong. She'd been put to hard labor, Regina could see her soft hands were now calloused. She looked older than sixteen.

"You're here because you wish to be married."

Mayala stood next to the butcher. He was older than her, about forty. Regina had heard about places where a woman so young wouldn't marry a man so much older without reservations of those around her. That wouldn't happen here.

Regina's own fate might one day be sealed with a man older than she was. Maybe even older than the butcher.

"A butcher is a high position in the village," her mother told both of them, "You'd be marrying above your station."

"My dowry is more than sufficient."

"Where did you get a dowry?" Cora almost snarled.

"You paid my mother well, my lady," Mayala said, "I saved it."

Cora looked between both of them, "I could have you married off to the village undertaker instead with that attitude."

Mayala shivered and kept her eyes downcast. This was far from the strong mouthy seven year old that she had been.

Whatever had happened to her mother, Mayala might have seen it.

"I will marry you off to the undertaker instead," Cora decided.

"With all due respect, mother," Regina looked at her, "The undertaker is about as old as the gods. He'll be dead and we'll be here in a couple of years with them wanting to get married again."

"Not if this man marries someone else."

"Is it really worth ALL this?" She asked.

Cora gave her such a look that told her she would be hearing about this later.

"Why should I allow this?" Cora demanded, "The butcher delivers our food. He would have someone far more…unbiased against our family near our meat."

"Because, my lady," Mayala kept her eyes downcast, "I am not my mother. I should not be punished because she took Regina against your orders and she could have been hurt.."

"Mother, it was eight years ago." Regina said. She saw Mayala's eyes. She saw the distance between teh butcher and her former friend. There wasn't love there but there was security

She could understand why someone like her friend would want that, after everything she might have been through.

"It'll be secure for her to have someone that ranks a bit better. Think of it as an example to me for when you find me a suitable husband. When I see how…how much of an…advantage, and how happy she'll be, maybe it'll help your own beliefs about my marriage."

Cora glanced over to her daughter, she leaned back in her own chair, "Very well, I'll allow it."

"Thank you," Mayala bowed and went to leave with her new betrothed.

Cora watched her, "My own beliefs about your marriage? Really, Regina. You sounded ridiculous. And to question me in front of our villagers-"

"You took her mother from her. You did it because of me."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"The least we could do is let her marry who she wants, and if it elevates her status a bit and makes her respectable, then that plays right into your beliefs about marriage and a woman's place. Whatever we did to Norma, you owe her that."

"Hm," Cora signaled for the next person to be brought in, "Well, she's getting married, so maybe now you can finally stop talking about how I never listen to you."

The next man was brought in. He was a younger man, Regina had never seen him before. She certainly would have remembered HIM. He was tall, and dark and clean, so he wasn't part of the village.

The man bowed.

"Regina," Cora looked to her daughter, "This is Daniel. He's to be our new stableboy."

00000000000000000000000000000000000

 **Present Day**

While the town waited on baited breath to see what Dracula's next move was, Regina was going insane with cabin fever. The talk with Mina hadn't gone well. She'd accepted her apology just enough to justify her hatred of the queen, and then went on a list of why she would never like her.

What sort of person did that? They all had a common goal, why couldn't she just work together with her once she apologized.

So Regina focused on the next thing. Her son; who was still curled up in his room barely talking to anyone.

They all tried bribing him, Regina saw Rumple sneak in with candy bars. Henry wouldn't leave the room. He had a lot to work out, she supposed. It wouldn't be as easy for him as it had been for her to take a life.

How was she supposed to connect with him when her pitch was 'I know it's harder for you to kill than it is for me. You get used to it after awhile.'

She wasn't that depraved anymore.

Henry couldn't be here, Regina knew they had to get him out. Dracula might turn it around on him, he might target Henry. He came after Mina's father all those years ago, he tormented Mina for having a part to play, he could use Henry too.

She had to get him out of harm's way.

"Emma, a moment please," she said as soon as she saw the woman pass her in the hallway.

"Regina, I don't have t-."

"It's about Henry," she hesitated, this was unthinkable for her to actually say. She had to build up the courage to actually say it, "I think…maybe we should get him away from Storybrooke until this is all over."

Emma stopped, she saw the confusion in Emma's eyes as what Regina had said didn't compute, "Regina…wow."

"I imagine you know how hard this is for me to say. He needs to be safe. Take him….get him somewhere where he won't be hurt and come back. We can't let Dracula touch him."

"I've considered it," Emma admitted.

Regina looked up, "You have?"

She fought the urge to grind her teeth. Was Neal in on this supposed planning? Was she still being excluded because now Emma knew everything about her?

"And I put it from my mind," Emma told her, "I ruled it out."

"What are you talking about, why?"

"Because Mina, Henry, and I are the only ones that can leave without risking any consequences of crossing the border," Emma whispered, "We didn't travel here by the curse. But so can Dracula. HIs ability, his…..being isn't limited to the town border. I MIGHT be able to summon magic outside…but you and Rumple-."

"…wouldn't be so fortunate."

"I can't take Dracula on by myself with limited magic. We can barely take him on together with our magic at it's fullest. Henry's safest here. We can't risk carting him away, it might draw Dracula to him even more and we can't risk me leaving town to do it."

Regina saw they were in an impossible situation, but Emma might be right. He could be safest, "Fine. For now, he'll stay, but the second Dracula focuses on him, I'm teleporting towards the town border with him and RISKING whatever happens when we cross."

They still didn't know. The dwarves refused to get close to the town border after Leroy's last experiment wiped Sneezy's mind.

"I just want him safe," Regina whispered. Once she was the most feared woman in all the world but now here she was having to play co-parent, getting told off by a powerless hunter, and waiting for the play of a powerful demon. How much further did she have to fall? Would she lose her son again?

"I know," Emma whispered, "I guess that's the one thing we both can agree on."

000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Mina always had to be doing something, she could never sit still, even as she was thinking. Her hands always had to be occupied. So she kept a small rope with her when she was bored, and practiced knots.

"Are those naval?" Henry asked.

"yes."

"How did you learn naval knots?"

"I had uncles in the navy, so was my grandfather. Mum learned and she taught me. She used to threaten to tie me up with them if I didn't behave. She never would though."

She kept practicing the knots.

"Do you ever…think maybe saving people put them worse off than they'd be otherwise?"

Mina didn't even look up, "No."

"Oh."

She looked over to him, "Is that how you feel?"

"I thought….," Henry started, "When we broke the first curse, we'd be happily ever after. I thought we'd all finally be happy and all the bad things would stop. But they didn't, and I think they got worse. I think…maybe if I didn't push for the curse to be broken, maybe all these bad things wouldn't have happened."

Mina looked over to the boy. She knew the self anger he had. She knew the guilt that all of the heroes felt. That maybe if they had or hadn't done something out of their control, then the consequences wouldn't have happened.

"The thing with happily ever afters," Mina started, she really wasn't good at this, "Is…how much of an overreaching vague notion they are. Cinderella, I suppose, will have her prince. She'll have her new title and fortune and her pretty dresses and no housework. I imagine she'll make things better for the servants even. But she won't know how to run a kingdom properly. The Sleeping Beauty might be awakened but she'll be an insomniac for the rest of her life, as she's afraid if she'll go to sleep, she might not wake up again. Perhaps Hansel and Gretel will hate the woods now. Happily ever after does not, in any way, mean there are no more hardships. It only means that the hardships pertaining to that point in one's life is over and perhaps now they have a better position and supportive family to help them through the next one."

"Like I do."

"Indeed," Mina bit her lip, "Bad things will always happen. That is life. A kiss does not solve a lifetime of problems without creating new ones. At least not where I'm from."

A kiss or true love wouldn't get anyone anything where she was from. Jonathan's love for her got him killed

Henry's eyes teared up, "I'm so tired of being hurt all the time."

Mina felt her heart break for the boy's anguish and went to squeeze his hand assuringly, "I know."

They were quiet again.

"You're wrong about Cinderella and Aurora and Hansel and Gretel. They're not scared of those tings. I've met them."

"Don't sass, it's unbecoming of a prince.," Mina said as the sun finally set for the day, plunging the room in darkness.

"I'm 13, I think it's in my genes. Have you seen my family?"

And then something orange filled the sky, grabbing both their attention.

Fire was coming from the direction of the inn and the diner.

Mina grabbed the gun she kept on her person, "Go get your mother, now."

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Dracula had taken his revenge, Rumplestiltskin felt it in his gut as soon as he and Emma arrived in front of the fire. They had alerted the town, they had given them more instructions for the lockdown and were giving hourly updates but the monster slipped through their defenses anyway.

Red moved fast, she was a werewolf but somehow he caught her scent and traced her back to the diner.

Or more likely, he already knew she had her grandmother here.

There were people laying around the burning building. Some were dead, some were bleeding. Rumplestiltskin waved his hand to heal everyone still alive. He scanned the faces of those that were dead. One of the dwarves, Bashful? Dracula had just ripped his throat out and taken his fill.

Emma started crying when she saw the chaos.

"He's going to keep doing this," Emma muttered.

"He is."

"We're not READY, we don't have a complete plan."

"We're going to have to make do."

"It's not working so far," Emma looked at the bodies, "The town is on lockdown, why are they here at the diner?"

"Who said they were here willingly?" Rumplestiltskin asked.

Then he saw the body through the window.

"Emma," he barely gasped out her name.

Emma came over, and judging from the paleness of her face, she already knew.

"Is it bad?"

"Red shouldn't let this be the last memory of her."

Emma closed her eyes and fought tears, then she bent over and threw up, "No. No….."

Rumplestiltskin let a single tear fall. He and Granny never saw eye to eye on things, and the older woman never thought he was good enough for Belle.

Not just Red, Belle and Snow and charming were going to be devastated as well.

They had offered her a safe place but she had refused, she was going to keep watch over the town while they looked for a solution. She was going to try to help keep everyone calm and safe.

This wasn't just a murder to hurt them, this was a murder to destroy the town.

Rumple put his hand on Emma's shoulders, "We're vulnerable out here."

"We can't leave her or Bashful out here….or any of the bodies, we have to take them home."

"We don't have time for that."

"We'll MAKE time," Emma sobbed.

"He won't let us make time and you know that."

"Dracula did this while we sat on our hands and did nothing."

"We haven't done nothing.'

"We sat in that house of yours again while that monster's destroying the town. Just like when Mr. Dark did this months ago."

"You think meeting him head on in battle is going to help? Has it helped so far? Will it drive him back? We are not doing nothing, Emma. We are pulling back and working on this plan We'll find a weakness, we are being strategic."

"And how's that going?" Emma demanded, "The plan will fail, all of them will, we have to…STOP him."

"The only other choice is getting physical and how's THAT been going?" Rumplestiltskin demanded, "You can't let your emotion and anger override you. We have to pull back, we have to take offense, this won't be the only stop tonight. He won't stop. We have to be ready."

"But the dead-."

"They have others to tend to them. We have a more present threat to prepare for. You are the savior, you have to save the ones who are still living."

Emma kept her gaze on his, "I hate you sometimes."

"I know," Rumplestiltskin told her sadly, "You can weep for the dead later. Tonight is not the night for it."

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Rumplestiltskin did at least allow her to bring Granny and Bashful's body home. Emma had insisted. Snow would want to pay her respects. So would Red.

But Rumplestiltskin wrapped them up. No one should see either like this. It would seep into their memories of when their loved ones were alive and consume those memories until there was nothing happy about it.

"I'm so sorry," Rumplestiltskin told Snow as she and Belle came down.

Red came down as well, a gun in hand.

She saw the wrapped form laying on the floor and shook her head. She would know her grandmother's scent, werewolves always knew when their loved ones died.

Snow was crying. Belle had her hand over her mouth

Red shook her head in disbelief. Her grandmother had raised her, she had loved her. No matter how much they argued, no matter how long they held their silence and their secrets, they had always come first in the other's life.

Red's knees found the ground.

Regina put her hand on her shoulder.

The contact snapped Red out of her stunned silence. She heard someone wailing in grief. Her grandmother was dead.

And then she realized, the one wailing was herself.

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The grandmother had been first. Alina had planned it in case they ever needed it. She had planned for other places to be destroyed afterwards. The hospital, the sheriff's station, the clock tower….all things these heroes felt were special in their lives.

And if that did not work, he would move on to homes.

He stood in front of the hospital, watching them. He carried a lighter in his hand and a few cans of gasoline in the other. His wife had taught him how to use the lighter before she died. She'd been fascinated with the things of this world, she'd wanted to take some of it home with her when they went back to make life easier.

They had taken Alina from him, he would level this whole town if need be to get what he wanted.

They all stood in the windows, watching him. He saw their desperate crying faces, frantically on the phone.

Calling loved ones? Calling their precious savior?

One tried to run out the back. He snapped their neck and barricades the rest in.

He went to spread gasoline on the front doors that he'd already chained shut.

"Stop!"

He knew the voice before he even turned around to see her.

His fourth wife was no catch by any measure. When Jonathan had been in his castle, he'd said she had a nice smile that made her whole face light up. Not that Dracula had ever seen it. He had desired Lucy far more than her when they were innocent all those years ago.

It was different with Mina now though, he saw the raw anger and fear in her now but there was a danger to it. A cornered lioness stood before him holding a bag in her hand He imagined they were full of weapons that could not possibly hope to hurt him. OR maybe it was the few things she would bring with her on the journey back home with him.

And seeing that look in her made him want her now.

She was giving herself over to him to save the town.

He should kill her now, she murdered Alina less than a day ago.

Kill her, start over.

But no, he had taken Mina Murray-Harker and molded her. It would be a shame to put an end to it all now. Wives had killed each other before. They were the lesser ones though. Alina used to be untouchable. But a boy had shot her and Mina finished the job, thus making her the new first wife in Dracula's eyes.

And so, he would forgive her. She knew him, as he knew her. He would be less alone in the world when they went back.

Forgiving her and taking her back would make her far more miserable than killing her and sending her to the underworld for good. Alina would approve. If there was anyone that could possibly take her place as his main wife, it would be Mina Harker; Queen of Hunters.

He smiled warmly and went to take her pale shivering face in his hands. She had pulled back slightly, he ignored it.

"Hello, my dear," he whispered, mustering all he could of a warm, forgiving, loving husband.

And embraced her


	9. S04E09: To March On

When Dracula left the hospital, the phone calls started pouring in. Emma at first, was terrified that he'd burned it to the ground but was surprised when she was told he'd left it in one piece.

So she and Rumple arrived, she cut the chains off the doors and let traumatized people stream out. She gave hugs where she needed to and assurances that they were trying to do everything they could. People talked, people sobbed. They'd all nearly died, the next ones on the list. Then they heard about Granny and demanded Emma DO something.

She was trying to!

"We almost didn't make it out," Frankenstein told her as she listened, "He had a lot of gasoline, he had sealed all the doors. Someone tried to escape out the window but stopped when he circled around to get them. That monster was going to burn us alive."

"Why didn't you call me before?"

"He cut the phone lines. And you know…cell phones in hospitals…people usually leave them off and then they panicked when he locked us in and started to set everything on fire."

"But then Mina came."

Victor nodded, "Mina came…and he hugged her-."

Emma shuddered, "And he took her?"

Victor's silence confirmed it, "Is it over now? Now that he has her?"

Emma wondered if there was a time when it'd have been that simple, "If he wanted Mina Harker, he could've easily just taken her before all this ."

"Unless he wanted her to go willingly. What if it was a mind game?"

"I don't think that's the case."

"Maybe it's over."

Emma doubted it, she wanted it to be over but she hoped it wasn't over this way. Not for Mina's sake.

Regina came up to her, Emma raised an eyebrow, "What are you doing here?"

"I'm still the mayor, you know," Regina shoved her hands in her pockets, "He's got her."

"Yeah, I know."

"I went to the house, he took her there. They haven't left yet to go to their world.."

Emma felt the relief fill her chest but she didn't want to give it away, "Okay."

"Are we going in there and getting them out?"

"After last time we went there? I don't think we'll be so lucky."

"You're leaving your new girlfriend to the man that terrorized her?" Regina raised an eyebrow, "That's not like you."

Emma turned around so Regina couldn't see her conflict. She just really wanted a drink right now.

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Mina had been taken back to the house, like she expected she would be. Her captor was quiet but content as he brought her to the home that he'd be resurrected in. He locked the front door and took her up to a guest room. He didn't force her, he didn't turn her. But he DID lock her in the room for the night. Something she had easily broken through in two minutes.

However, as soon as she opened the door, he was there. He shoved her back inside and slammed the door.

"We will talk in the morning, my dear," he snarled, "Get your rest. If you try again, you'll remain with me. "

And that was impossible to comprehend. So she went to lay in bed. She lay there she didn't know for how long. Before all this, he'd come to her in the night when he was turning her. She remembered how horrifying it was THEN. He was in the next room now, listening for what she might be doing.

And she couldn't stop him from doing whatever he wished to do.

She refused to cry. If he was there when she tried to get out, he would be nearby. He would hear. She had to be stoic and brave, she had to forget what he did to her.

But she couldn't forget. And so when she pushed the fear back, she lost the only thing in herself that stopped her from being angry in it's place. And when anger took over, fury came tenfold, then came rage.

He ruined her life. She would never be normal because of the bastard that brought her here.

He was terrorizing a town, Mina had to stop him.

She must have dozed a couple of times; rage was so consuming and exhausting. Mina didn't know how Regina did it for decades. It felt like seconds when she closed her eyes, but when she opened them again, it was morning.

And Mina didn't feel any more rested.

She got out of the bed. She tucked her gun at the small of her back. He had let her keep her weapons. It wasn't like they would work on him anyway.

The smell of warm food floated up the stairs. Mina ignored the rumbling of her stomach and came down to the kitchen. Dracula moved around the dining room in slacks and a pressed shirt.

Her eyes strayed over to the door leading to the basement. If she could just get down there….

"Darling, you're up."

Everything inside her went rigid. Her heart started racing, and she froze mid-step. That fear came rushing back. She tried to swallow it and push it to the back of her mind but she couldn't. He was moving closer. She took a step back for every step he advanced.

"Come for breakfast," he sounded cheerful, but she saw the dangerous look in his eyes. There was still some hate there, mixed in with the affection. He hand't forgotten that she'd helped kill him, and she'd helped kill Alina. Conflicted that, he also didn't forget she was his wife once….according to his sick mind.

"I don't think I want to."

His gaze darkened and he gave her a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes, "I insist."

"I want to see David Nolan"

"All in good time."

"I want to see David Nolan _now."_

 _"_ Then sit and eat."

She saw what this was. He was taking her control away. He was letting her know that he would play their game, but she had to play by his rules. He had the power here, and if she wanted her way, then she would have to do what he wished first.

Mina spent all her energy forcing herself to move plopped in the chair, the anger started flooded back when she saw he had made the favorites she loved, "You're a son of a bitch."

She glared at him as she put some food on her plate. When he saw how little she put on there, he took the plate and added far more.

She didn't have the stomach to eat all this and from his smirk, he knew full well what this was doing to her.

And there was the fury, "I suppose this is all to make me taste better."

"I don't feed off my wives. The bitter blood in you was hardly appetizing a few days ago when I returned to form."

Mina could barely swallow the food at the thought of being his anything. She put the knife and fork down to hide her shaking hands, "I'm surprised you haven't turned me yet. What's the matter? Prolonging the torture? Or are you worried you can't get it going like you used to?"

"I think getting you away from everyone will make your adjustment for successful."

"Is that what it is now? An adjustment?"

You seem to have quite the ability of getting friends to fight with you. The best solution would be to take you home and complete the process there."

"Ah, so you're afraid if you do it here, you might piss everyone off so you might die again."

"And take your loved ones with me," he pointed out with a smirk, "And you'll have truly learned nothing from last time."

Mina swallowed her own bile. How she didn't stab him right there was something she'd never be able to explain, "Oh it'll be different from last time."

"Is that so?"

"I know how you think now," Mina said as she continued eating, she showed him FAR more bravodo than what she was feeling, "And now I know enough about this world and it's darkness to fully understand it."

"And yet here you are."

"You would've burned down that hospital full of people if I had not."

"I still might."

Mina finished her plate, "I know."

"I suppose that doesn't make you much of a hero then if nothing was saved."

"You already know I don't consider myself much of one anyway."

"Well your'e not a hero, and you're not a villain, what DO you think of yourself then?"

Mina didn't want him playing with her mind and she didn't want to talk about anything about herself, "I suppose I just see myself as necessary."

He smirked, "And I suppose you have me to thank-."

"I want to see Charming," Mina put the napkin down on the empty plate, "Now."

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Lizzie cried all night for her mother. Belle didn't know what to do. She fed her, changed her, rocked her, begged her, and begged her more. The baby would settle down for a few moments and then start crying again

"Here," Rumplestiltskin came in, "I've thought of something."

He had one of Mina's shirts in his hand. Belle was about to ask what he was going to do, and then she remembered something she'd read a long time ago.

Rumple wrapped Lizzie in her mother's shirt and held her close, "There there little one. Your mother will be home soon."

The baby's cries reduced to tired whimpers. He sat down with her in the rocking chair and gently rocked her, "They settle down with the smell of their mother surrounding them. It was a trick I used….before…in the old world when I would deal for them."

Belle heard the shame in his voice, "Some you gave better lives to."

"Some I didn't," Rumplestiltskin stared at the baby in his arms, "I had to find a good home for Mina's father. I worry that I may have to do the same for his granddaughter."

Belle put her hand on his shoulder, "Is Mina alright?"

"She was a few hours ago. She sent a light signal out the window letting Emma know she was alive."

Belle saw the guilt in his eyes and knelt down, "What are we going to do?"

Rumple wouldn't look at her, "There's going to be a funeral today. People are going to risk attending it to give their last respects to those that died in the diner fire. I think you should go."

"Won't he attack us?"

"Everything thinks that because he has Mina, he'll move on."

"He's not, isn't he?"

"He expressed his wish to go back home as soon as possible. He hasn't yet. He wants Mina for something but he's here for something else….or…someone else."

"Are you going?"

"No," Rumplestiltskin finally admitted, "I won't be wanted. I will give my final respects at another time."

"Then I will too."

"You don't have to, Belle."

"No, I think I might have a lead now that w'ere thinking about destroying the key to the vault. IF we destroy it, we can kill him and keep him from getting out."

"IF there's a vault."

"He has to come back somehow, I doubt he just appears."

"Maybe he does," Emma muttered from the doorway, with a drink in her hand, "Who even knows anymore."

"Emma," Rumple warned as he stood, "Please tell me you're not getting drunk."

"I'm not getting drunk. I just…I need to take the edge off. Mina walked into that monster's house. We promised her when we met her that she wouldn't end up back with that monster. she wouldn't have to and she did."

"She made her own decision. We weren't going to stop her."

"He was going to burn the town down," Emma took a drink, "None of us had a choice."

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Mina had to take a minute to collect herself before they went down into the basement. The last time she was down there, she'd had a concussion. That was where Dracula came back at full power. She tried to hide how terrified she was because he was watching her intently, she could feel his eyes burrowing into the back of her head.

She mustered as much dignity as she possibly could and went downstairs. She tried not to look at the dried blood on the concrete where she and Emma had been.

She could hear Dracula walking behind her.

 _Be dignified. Don't panic. Don't cry._

Mina saw the pale drawn figure curled in the corner. The chains that once held Dracula down now held him. He didn't look anything like the strong patriarch of the Nolan family. He looked like….

He looked like just about anything that Dracula got his hands on. He looked ruined.

"Don't touch him," Dracula warned as she went to get closer. He was greying now, he was so emaciated Mina guessed he'd lost 20 to 30 pounds. He looked so much older than what he did when he was with them. Mina also took note of the bruises on his face and his busted nose and lip.

"What have you done to him?" Mina demanded.

"Dracula shrugged, "He keeps trying to escape."

"David," Mina whispered, "Can you hear me?"

He moaned and turned his head. Mina glanced down at the bite-marks on his neck. Those would scar and they'd be a constant reminder for the rest of his life.

Mina moved closer.

"Mina," Dracula warned, "Don't touch him."

"I'm checking on him, leave me alone," she moved closer, "David. Wake up."

It was obviously a struggle for him to open his eyes ,but when he did, he watched her, "Snow?"

"Not remotely," Mina told him, "But she's safe and you'll be seeing her soon."

Mina went to put her hand on his shoulder.

"Mina," Dracula warned, more annoyed.

Mina was working a lock-pick lose from a hidden pocket in her jacket sleeve. She grabbed his face with one hand, while trying to slip the lock-pick in the limp hand hidden from Dracula's view.

He wasn't strong enough to hold it. Mina flinched as it clattered to the floor with a noise that might as well have been a gunshot for how loud it was.

Dracula raced forward, Mina instinctively went to get away but he grabbed her and hauled her up. Mina gripped one of the empty chains for an anchor, but Dracula was so much stronger. He always was. So Mina panicked once he had her, and she fought him, screaming, as he dragged her upstairs to the living room and shoved her in the corner. Mina's back hit the corner of a desk, eliciting a pained cry from her.

"How dare you," Dracula hissed angrily, "You think for one second I won't kill him because of you? He's food. I can get another."

Mina backed into the corner, she couldn't let him go that far, and he would if it meant he thought she would learn her lesson, "I'm sorry."

" I'm regularly a patient man but you are _very_ trying."

"Well who ensured that?"

"You know some gratitude might be nice."

"Gratitude?" Mina spat, the notion was so ridiculous that she had to take a few moments to calm her mind and form a cohesive sentence, "That you murdered my father? That you assaulted myself and killed Lucy?"

"I did not kill Lucy, she merely transformed. Your husband and that professor of yours, perhaps you should place the blame on them, they were the ones that killed her."

Mina punched him. He took it and looked up at her with a sneer, "I made you better."

"You didn't," she shook her head.

"You would have lived forever."

"As a monster."

"Yes but that fades, you are not always a bloodthirsty monster that you saw yourself turning into."

"I know differently, you're still an animal, just of a more dangerous sort."

"The constant undying feel of thirst would have subsided to mere annoyance " he said ignoring her, "You would have all the time in the world to learn everything your heart desired. You're such a lover of books and language…You might have even finally mastered French."

Mina shuddered, the bile in her throat rose knowing he still knew anything about her, "Stop…please."

"You would've been a wife."

"I WANTED to be."

"And do what? Birth children? Marry a man that didn't understand your passions beyond what he wanted for both of you?"

"Jonathan did understand me."

"He may have at first but when your job and your passions might interfere with his, you would have had to give them up to live in a mundane life that you would come to despise. You would one day find yourself old and grey and the only thing you would have accomplished would be how many children you might have that would one day live the same mundane life that you lived."

"It's what I wanted."

"No one wants a mundane life."

"Compared to the one I have now?" Mina asked, "You turned me tin a broken shattered angry husk of a person."

"How many people are alive now because of you?" Dracula challenged, "I know your mind, Mina. We were linked once, and you're not so different from others. You use that as a source of pride, don't you? It keeps you from going may be broken and traumatized but the people you saved will not be. Nor will their future families. And those people would not be alive if not for you. And you would not have been in that position if not for ME. Either way, your life is better than the one you could have had with that boring piece of man devoid of personality."

Mina watched him, bloody hell, he really believed all this, didn't he? And in a way she did too, she told herself that she saved countless people.

But she did it because she never wanted people to suffer the same way she had. He shouldn't get credit for that.

"I am doing the right thing," he told her, "In bringing you with me."

"I don't want to go with you."

"And where will you go?" He asked….almost gently, "Stay here? They won't accept you, not if I was gone. You're just here to clean up my mess and that's why they endure you."

"You don't know that."

"They won't care about you, they won't support you. Not when there's nothing for you to focus on and they see the darkness that won't go away even if I died."

"Stop it," Mina choked out.

"If you would win, you would not feel whole. You would have accomplished nothing for yourself. You will not be fixed and your family you have lost will not come back. There will be more, there always will be. Can you live with yourself settling down and being normal when more monsters kill everyone? Or will you break your vow you made to your daughter and continue to hunt with her in tow, ruining her as well? "

Mina went to shove at him. He caught her arms, pulled her around and held her tightly. Her back was against his chest.

"Shhh," he whispered as she fought for a bit and finally forced herself to relax, "You are better coming with me. It's best for everyone."

He let her go and Mina moved past him and went upstairs.

He put his hands on her more than once, she was going to make the shower as hot as she possibly could and scrub him off of her.

She could cry and panic without him hearing.

She was starting to get an idea of why they hadn't left yet.

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With Mina….'guarding' Dracula, Emma took it upon herself to decide it was as good a time as any to bury their dead. She called the families, got the town out with shovels and stood before several new graves, six feet deep.

Or close enough. The day was going by too quickly, they would lose the sunlight soon.

She stood with her son and her family, everyone gave their eulogies for those that had died in the diner. One after the other, they all filed to each and every coffin to give respects.

There'd be more graves if Mina hadn't surrendered herself. There might have been far less if she'd gone with him sooner…..if Emma had agreed to the terms at the dinner.

But then Alina would be alive and they'd still have two threats.

Why hadn't Mina made contact beyond the light signal? Was she alright? Was she still alive? What about Charming? They hadn't left yet, which confirmed her and Mina's suspicions both that he was looking for something else.

Emma was on pins and needles waiting for something. Every second that passed felt like an elephant on her chest. She jumped every time the phone rang, and waited with grinding teeth for her family to figure out who it was and finish the call.

What if Mina couldn't get away and forgot the phone number?

What if she and her dad were dead?

Emma followed numbly as her mom sobbed through Bashful's eulogy. She clutched her mom's hand, as Snow held the baby. She looked so tired, and so drawn. This was taking as much a toll on her as it was the rest of them.

The dwarves said something, gave some stories. Apparently Bashful DID talk every now and again. He just didn't want to unless he had something to say. And why should he have to say anything in public when Grumpy did all the mouthing off for them?

And when he DID talk, it was profound. Who would have known?

Emma watched as her 'uncles' all dropped handfuls of dirt in the ground as a final farewell. They moved together in on themselves and Emma followed numbly to the coffin she didn't want to visit, the one that she was hoping would somehow not happen.

Granny's coffin was the most expensive one. Rumple had put in for half the the town raised a fund for the rest of it. She was given an expensive tombstone that would be up by the end of the month and the best view that the cemetery could afford that wasn't taken up by someone else.

Red stared at her feet so she wouldn't have to look at the coffin, "Granny raised me for as long as I can remember. I don't remember my own mom when I was a kid, I met her….much later and that turned into a disaster."

Snow lowered her gaze.

"Granny raised me like I was her daughter, and she protected me. And there….there was a time when we didn't get along after I found out she was also protecting me from the truth of what I was. I didn't talk to her for awhile. And that's time I won't ever be able to make up for….not now, not ever again. She," Red stoppd for a second, her voice broke and she sobbed, "It wasn't just me that she took in, she took in a lot of us to take care of before and after the curse. She was flawed and she was someone that we all looked up to. I'm gonna miss her. And maybe…one day…I can hope that while I can never be as great as she was, she'll at least be proud of me."

Red started sobbing again and went ot rest her hand on the coffin, "I love you, Granny."

The coffin started to lower. Red closed her eyes and turned away so that she wouldn't have to see it put in the earth.

Regina came forward and embraced her, "Lets go."

"I have to see her buried," Red whispered.

"Trust me, when you hear that sound and know it's for her, you'll never be able to un-hear it," Regina took her hand and gently went ot pull her away, "THat's not your grandmother anymore, she's up..wherever the afterlife is. Probably trying to take over. Lets go back home. You haven't eaten."

"I don't think I can."

"You have to keep your strength up. At the very least, you have to get away from here, let's go."

Red gave a lingering look back towards the coffin. She took a red rose and went to put it on the coffin before it went underground and stood.

"We'll have her wake when all this is over," Regina promised as they walked away.

"When's that going to be?" Henry whispered to Emma as they started leaving.

"Hopefully in a couple of days, kid."

"So you have a plan?"

"It's…complicated."

"Dracula has Mina, he has grandpa….we have to go in there, we have to save them. We're heroes, that's what we have to do."

"Yeah, hey," Emma went to kneel in front of Henry, "He does have Mina, and he DOES have dad. You know what that means, it means eh has two hostages in a house that he knows that's surrounded by a powerful shield. Dad can't protect himself…and depending what shape Mina's in, she might not be able to either. We can't get them killed, we have to wait."

"Until what?"

"Until….things are different. You have to trust me….we have to wait"

"How can they be if Mina and dad are in a bad place?"

Emma stood, "I'm hoping she's not."

000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Red didn't eat anything when Regina made her something to eat at her house. She managed to stir the food around for a bit and went to lay in bed.

Regina sat in silence for a few moments before she picked up the phone and called Henry. Henry said they were 'waiting' whatever that meant. Regina didn't want any part of this mess they'd made of the Dracula thing, she was going to stay here where she was needed.

Henry would be safe at Rumple's house.

Regina pulled off her heels and walked up the stairs to her bedroom.

Red hadn't changed out of her dress, she lay there on top of the covers, curled around the pillow.

Regina walked into the room quietly and closed the door behind her.

"Is this the same bed you hurt Graham in?" Red asked.

Regina stopped. So they weren't talking about Granny then, okay, "No, it's…a different one from the last curse."

"Same room though."

Regina looked down, "Yeah, it is."

"He didn't deserve that."

Years ago, Regina would say he did. He had gone back on their deal and tried to fool her. Anyone else would have gotten killed for such a thing. However Red and Emma finding out had made her re-evaluate a stance she'd had for a humiliating amount of years.

Graham hadn't deserved what she'd done.

"None of them deserved what I did," Regina finally admitted, "And it was wrong to hurt them. I guess I just…I don't know. There was an anger there that I didn't know how to get rid of. And a lot of it is still there, but believe me, Red. I am trying. I have Henry now, and I have you. And I want you to know that I'm here for you for this, no matter what."

Red wiped some tears away, "I didn't even get to talk to her the day she died."

Regina went to hold her, "Oh Red."

"I'm never going to forgive myself," Red sobbed.

Regina could really do nothing but hold her.

0000000000000000000000000000000

"I really don't think you need any more of this."

Emma felt a tugging on her hand and saw her mother trying to tug away the bottle in her hand. She instinctively tightened the grip, "YEs I do. My friend is facing her abuser to save this town and I'm not protecting her."

"Emma."

"I'm the savior and we buried so many people today. I'm entitled to a couple of drinks. I'm not drunk, I just need something to take the edge off or I'm going to go insane."

"Okay," Snow whispered, "We just…."

"Need me at my best, because I"m the savior."

"No….I just wanted to check on you. I wanted to see if you're okay."

"I'm not."

"You want to talk about it?"

Emma couldn't even begin to formulate how she was feeling, much less talk about it, "We don't have the time And I don't want to burden you."

There was a quiet moment between the two of them, "You know…when I said on Neverland that the relationship between you and I wasn't what I wanted-."

Emma's heart started racing, "You don't have to talk about this."

"I want you to know that it wasn't what I meant. It doesn't mean I regret what we have, it's just…different. And I think me having to confess that hurt you and it put a rift in our relationship. We don't talk anymore like we used to. And it hurts me to know that it hurt you too."

"Yeah, it hurt. But I"m not…isolating you because of it. It's just like….things keep happening, they always happen. And then Robbie was born and now Dracula's here and I just…I still need to figure things out and I don't think I even know where to start."

Somewhere upstairs, one of the babies started crying. Emma sighed and ran a hand through her hair, "He's probably hungry."

"Yeah, it's that time," Snow squeezed her hand, "I love you."

"Me too," Emma told her.

She watcher her mother go up the stairs and tried to push the feelings away

A few moments later, the door to the front opened. Emma looked over to see Neal come in, "Good news, that was the last of the town, everyone got home safely."

"Good," Emma leaned her head on the wall.

"You okay?"

"No," Emma watched him, "I have to tell you something."

0000000000000000000000000

Mina kept ice on her back from where Dracula had slammed her against the corner of the desk and stared out the window. Since their confrontation she'd been trying to avoid him. Her thoughts were a mess, she didn't want to hear any more of his beliefs and thoughts.

He was not the reason people were saved. Mina told herself this over and over. The hunting world was small, yes. Those that she had saved would most likely have died and even more before someone…if anyone…got to the monster in question. She rarely went on big hunts, with the big groups. She'd learned that lesson when she found herself alone with one who called himself her friend and thought he could take more.

He didn't get far. From that point on, Mina took smaller hunts of people that might not be able to afford more than maybe a bucket of apples and a chicken or two.

Those people would be dead if she hadn't gone into hunting. Hunting would've been something she never would've participated in had Jonathan and Lucy not been killed. However, Mina didn't feel like she OWED anything like that to Dracula. It was a struggle to accept it but she had been the one to try to make something of the mess her life had turned into. She tried to make the world better

If Emma had said she owed what she was to Regina's and Rumple's curse, Mina would never allow her to continue that thought process without throwing in her own very harsh opinion. Regina wouldn't get that right, nor should Dracula.

Her gaze settled outside again. Had they been here, already? Had they come in the morning when she was nursing her aching back and Dracula was in a fitful sleep? Mina had tried to go for the now bolted door when he went upstairs. Twice. Both times she had heard Dracula get up as soon as she got close to accessing his food source. .

Mina couldn't risk him either locking her up or putting her in there with him so that he could keep an eye on her. It was important she have her limited freedom.

She heard him into the room. A small creak of a door gave him away. The subtle scent of cologne not dissimilar to what she would smell when he was assaulting her all those years ago drifted into the room.

She slowly went rigid, and when he went to stand behind her, her heart started racing.

"You're frightened," he noted, "I'm not here to hurt you."

She gripped the windowsill so tightly her knuckles turned white and her fingers started to cramp.

"I'm so sorry for the way I hurt you," he told her and brushed her short hair away from the nape of her neck, "But you were going to try to help him escape. Is that why you're here?"

"I'm here because you would've burned this town down if I had not."

"Hmm," he moved closer, smelled her hair, Mina's fear started blinding her, "I thought you were here to find out my plan."

"I know your plan," She had enough and reached behind her to shove him backwards, "Keep your distance."

"I don't believe you know the full agenda."

"You're not here for me, you're here for Emma," she turned around, "I came here after you arrived. After the dreams started up. You were here for Emma's blood so that you could be restored. And I suspect you won't leave until you have her either. Me arriving here was a happy accident, it saves you some time so you don't have to hunt me down. Two wives for the price of one, yeah?"

He broke into a proud smirk, "Clever girl."

"It's not so complicated as everyone thought it was. We were all overthinking it. We thought you were here for some big plan but you're not. You wanted to be strong again. You want to ensure you will never ever have to spend years building your strength. Her blood is the product of many generations of true love along with Rumplestiltskin's magic to make her the savior."

"She's truly one of a kind."

"And I thought you didn't drink from your wives."

"I'll make an exception, but only if I have to. Having the savior for a wife should ensure no one will ever be able to get close enough to kill me again. Perhaps I'll even take the granddaughter of the diner owner too; The Hunter, the Savior, and the Wolf."

"You won't get far, they have several people that love them."

He smirked, "So did you"

Mina paled. She thought of Charming and Snow…..and Henry and Neal….Dracula would take all of them from Emma. And then when there was nothing left and she was at her most vulnerable, he would turn her.

Mina couldn't let that happen.

"I will stop you."

"If you could, you would have already."

"You won't ruin her life like you did mine."

Dracula scoffed, "Ruined your life? Granted I took your father, and your best friend, and your husband as you keep reminding me….but I didn't take your baby."

Mina felt her stomach drop, "Don't you bring him up."

"Was it a boy then?"

Mina swallowed back her grief, "I'll never know, will I? I lost him after Jonathan died."

He watched her curiously, "I never touched your mother either."

"Shut up."

"What happened with her, I wonder. Alina didn't touch her either, which is surprising. I suppose she was going to save her for me. I was assured she was still alive before we arrived here."

"Stop."

"So how can I have taken everything from you if you weren't strong enough to carry your own son and I never touched your mother? I seem to remember you two were VERY close once-."

Mina stormed forward and shoved him angrily, "Shut up!"

He grinned, "And then there's the matter of your daughter."

Mina started shaking, "Please don't touch her."

"I have no intention of touching her. But if you continue asy ou are, then you won't get to see her one last time before we leave."

"You're a bastard, I don't suspect I'll get to see her regardless."

"Now what sort of thing is that to say?" He demanded, "You're her mother. And my blood flows in your veins."

"Oh I'm sure I've bled enough in my life to bleed it out of me."

"Either way, she's mine as it seems there's no father around."

"You don't even want her."

"I do not. But if doing so ensures your behavior then I may consider it."

Mina kept her composure but it was everything she had not to throw up at the idea of him being anywhere near Lizzie, "I know what you do to children."

And she would do the exact same thing if she was turned. She wouldn't be able to stop, once the instincts took over. She'd have that thirst for blood that she wouldn't be able to shake. He would feed her children because they were easy to obtain, and she would drink because she wouldn't be herself anymore.

Dracula reached up to brush some hair behind her ear, "Relax, this is the best possible outcome for you. Your child will grow up without having a damaged woman for a mother. You will be safe and warm and loved."

"Loved," she spat.

"Your childish definition of love may not apply, but you are my wife and I do love you," he told her with a hint of annoyance, "And most importantly of all, you'll have a sister in Emma. You've always wanted a sister."

Mina could be sick.

He seemed to realize this and seemed to take some sort of perverse joy out of it. With a bow, he left her.

Mina waited until he was gone before she went upstairs.

She knew what he wanted. Time to get to Charming.

Mina heard the door lock behind her when she went to her bedroom. She reached under the bed and pulled out the pump action shotgun. Dracula hadn't emptied the bullets, he wouldn't see any point.

He would be expecting an escape as soon as she could. She would wait and she would rest.

Charming was going to be heavy to drag out.

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000\

After filling Neal in, Emma went to the opolice station and waited. She sat there with her flask in front of her and the phone right next to it. She hadn't opened the drink yet. She needed to be on top of her game

It had to be soon.

But it was almost sunset…Dracula was far more powerful than he was when the sun was up.

Something had to be wrong. Emma should be there. She shouldn't have even let Mina go against him alone in the first place.

She grabbed the keys, grabbed her phone and went to the car.

000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Mina lay on her bed staring at the ceiling as the shadows started to lengthen and get darker. The wind came in from the open window and lifted some of her hair off the pillow.

She waited. Dracula hadn't fed off Charming all day. He had to be getting thirsty.

She heard the door across from hers open. Her hand went to the shotgun next to her. She heard the doorknob rattle once and when he was satisfied she hadn't gotten herself out of the room, she heard him go downstairs.

She heard Charming screaming.

Mina jumped out of the bed, climbed out the open window. She moved down the patio roof, careful to hold onto the shotgun in her right hand and slid off into the bush below.

MIna did not run into the house. She ran for the largest tree on the property. The one that had roots sticking out. Underneath, she dug until she pulled out the brown bag specifically designed to blend in with the dirt.

The bag was already open, Mina flipped it upside down and felt something heavy roll out and onto the ground.

They called it Pandora's Box.

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000

 **1 Day Ago**

They had planned to find a way to kill Dracul permanently. That had been the plan. It wasn't going to be a measly kill and then wait for him to come back years or decades later, they were going to do it for good. That had been the plan before. But then Alina had been killed and Henry had been the one to pull the trigger. All bets were now off. He was going to be gunning for revenge and so Emma and Mina came together after breakfast and started forming a plan.

"We kill him," Emma started, "We use that time to find the key and destroy it, and so he can't come back."

"If there is in fact a vault," Mina noted, "I don't know if there is. Even when Dracula and I were psychically connected, he would hide that from all of us that wasn't Alina. Also, we have to take into account that Alina could hide that key anywhere. Another person could even have it."

"So then we kill him, and put up a cloak. We bring your family in and he can't get in," Emma paced.

"Are we really going to subject other families to that monster just so we can be safe?" Mina asked.

"We don't have a lot of options," Emma snapped, "He might come after Henry."

"Well, I"m not sure I'm comfortable with letting him lose on anything that isn't our little corner of this world," Mina told her, "And what happens when someone from this family might want to go out and see these worlds? What happens if Henry goes to university? You think he won't be keeping an eye on this little town once he gets back here?"

Emma bit her nail, "Nothing you know of can permanently kill him?"

Mina sighed, "We've been through the books backwards and forwards. We did everything right when we killed him the first time. I have no idea why he can come back after every other vampire I've killed hasn't."

Emma felt something start to dawn on her, it wouldn't have even been an option before. She had considered it once but didn't even think it was worth being brought up. Things were extremely different now, "What if we contained him."

Mina gave her a look that told her that she'd need to be convinced, "Containing just lets him out in the future."

"No," Emma went to sit across from her, "No, Mina. Listen to me. There was this thing we had when we were fighting Pan. It was called Pandora's box it could contain some of the greatest evil that we could ever imagine."

"But…Pandora's Box was opened by Pandora and let the evil OUT in the world."

"Yeah well in the stories Snow White's evil queen also wore heated boots and was made to dance and that never happened. What if we can get him in the box."

"What if someone eventually finds him and lets him out?"

"Then we bury it…far below the earth. It buys us time. And then when we find out what it will really take to kill him for good, we'll let him out and put the son of a bitch down once and for all."

"Why hasn't this been brought up before."

Emma was dreading this, "Because we thought we could kill him when he was weak. And then Alina got ahold of both of us and it all went downhill…."

"I know when you're trailing off," Mina whispered, "What else is there?"

"In order to trap someone in Pandora's Box…..you have to have a blood connection."

Mina was grim, "What better blood connection than someone who forced his blood on me."

Emma looked away, "Yeah."

"It has to be me anyway, Emma, you know that."

"It doesn't make it better."

"I'm the one he wants, I'm the one that hacked Alina into little pieces after I killed her. It's me. It was always going to be me."

"So then what, you show up and surrender yourself, put him in Pandora's box and save my dad?"

Mina drew in a shuddering breath, "Yes."

"There's a million things that could go wrong."

"Yes," Mina held her gaze, "But what choice do we have?"

Emma knew she was right. It was hail-mary if there ever was one.

"Getting you to him won't be the problem, we have a bigger one to think about," Emma told her.

"What's that?"

00000000000000000

"Absolutely NOT!" Rumplestiltskin hissed at them as they whispered the plan to him in the corner of the living room, "Are the two of you insane?"

"Yes," Mina whispered, "But it has to be done."

"Not like this."

"There's no choice," Mina argued, "Nothing else has worked. He shows no interest in killing or harming me, so we have to try."

"You will not ask this of me," he looked to Emma, "Not this."

"Mina's right, we don't have a choice. What if he goes after Henry?"

Rumplestiltskin looked conflicted, "I swore an oath."

"Dracula will not take Alina's death lightly," Mina whispered.

"I swore an oath on your father's memory that I would keep you safe," Rumplestiltskin said, his voice heavy, "He died because of that monster, I will not bury his daughter too. You can't ask this of me and you will not go right into the mouth of that snake."

"Yes I will."

"But you need Pandora's box and it's safely tucked away where only my magic can get it."

Emma narrowed her eyes, "Spells, like rules, were made to be broken."

Rumplestiltskin stopped, "You're asking me to willingly send my granddaughter to that thing."

Mina bristled a bit at being called his granddaughter. They had been so stressed that they hadn't exactly bonded and while Mina was starting to come to terms with him being a father to her own dad. The idea he was her grandfather hadn't fully processed.

"We don't have a choice," Mina whispered, "We have to contain him. If he don't, he could hurt Henry….and to do that, he will play mind-games. He will hurt those closest to him. That includes your son."

"You're manipulating me," Rumplestiltskin said angrily.

"Yes," Mina said simply

"Badly."

"Yes," Mina replied again

"Using my son's name in such a way-."

"Yes, but that doesn't make it any less true. Henry shot Alina. I ended the job. He could go after any number of us if we don't stop him and we have to act now."

Rumplestiltskin's demeanor crumbled. He looked over to his son leaving to go upstairs to where he knew Henry was curled up, "I just want to keep everyone safe."

"I know," Emma whispered, "But to keep everyone safe, this might be what we have to do."

"He could kill you," Rumplestiltskin looked to Mina, "Or do any number of things he wanted and we would not be able to stop him."

"We couldn't stop him anyway," Mina told him sadly.

"We could rig it," Rumplestiltskin said, "I can shapeshift into you. We could-."

"You wouldn't be able to get the blood magic to work. It has to be Mina's."

Rumplestiltskin truly looked defeated then, "You'll have to be in the house with him. YOu'll be alone."

Mina swallowed, "I know."

Rumplestiltskin watched her, "I can summon it through the shield he's set up. Right underground so he won't see it appear. Do you know the tree? The one with the roots aboveground?"

"Yes."

"It will be under there."

Mina glanced at Emma, relief crossing both their faces, "Thank you."

"Don't thank me yet, dearie," Rumplestiltskin said, his voice heavy with exhaustion, "None of us are out of the woods yet."

0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

 **Present Day**

Mina kept Pandora's Box in the bag on her shoulder. She held the shotgun in her hands as she raced up the steps of the porch and kicked the front door open.

The door slammed against the wall. Mina saw the door to the basement was already open and ajar. Mina shoved the shotgun in her bag as she ran and grabbed the small box that they promised her would hold him.

She pushed the fear back, she kept her hand ready to open it as soon as she got to the bottom.

Dracula was holding Charming down. He had Charming's head pulled painfully back, exposing his raw bleeding neck all the more.

Mina waved her hand over the mechanism. She heard the gears start to activate, she heard it slide back.

Dracula looked up as the dark red smoke started to pour out of the box.

And then he was in front of her in the blink of an eye. HIs hand wrapped around her throat so fast and so hard that she stumbled back and nearly dropped the box.

"Do you think this can hold me?" He snarled, tightening his grip, "I'm older than that little trinket, darling; much MUCH older."

Spots danced in her eyes. Mina watched as he crushed the box with just one hand.

"You chose to be brave," he sighed as Mina choked "Just like you did all those years ago. And every moment after that is borrowed. Everything you have, everything you are, it belongs to me. You are mine, in this world and the next. You will never be safe, and for that, because my love for you, I cannot kill you."

Mina felt for the shotgun sticking out of the bag on the floor. She shoved it against the underside of his jaw and went to pull the trigger.

He released his grip before she could. Mina drew in a full breath and collapsed to her knees.

Dracula was gone. Mina looked up to see he'd left the door open.

She had to try to get Charming out of here.

Her legs were unsteady as she grabbed her gun and stood up. She stumbled over to the curled up figure on the floor.

"Don't move," Mina aimed the gun at the chain and fired. The sound was deafening and they were lucky to avoid ricochet. Mina shouldered the gun and went to pull Charming up, "I can't drag you, you have to help me."

She stumbled under his size but he wasn't as large as he used to be. Mina half dragged him towards the stairs and then pretty much dragged him towards the first floor. She apologized ofr every bump she caused him. '

"He's here for Emma."

"I know."

"He's gonna turn her."

"Yeah, I know that too."

She helped Charming to his feet as she got towards the door, "Come on, I need your help."

"I don't think I can."

"You have to, I can't carry you the whole way." Mina just had to get outside. If she was outside she could fire into the air. That was to be their signal that she had won.

But she hadn't won anything other than Charming's rescue. They were back at square one.

Mina saw the yellow bug before she saw what was happening next to it. She felt confused at first, Emma wasn't supposed to be here.

And then she saw them. She saw Emma laying on the ground with a gash on her head and a bloody rock next to it.

She saw Dracula on top of Emma, his hand clamped over her mouth

She didn't need to see the blood pooling between his fingers to register what he was doing. Mina let out a scream and charged. She forgot about Charming, who grabbed the railing. She forgot about how this could be a victory if they could get past the shield.

Dracula grinned manically at her as he backed away. Mina didn't shoot at him, there was no point. She raced to her friend, whose mouth was covered in Draculas' blood and forced Emma to turn over. Emma was trying to spit out the blood he'd forced into her mouth, but it wouldn't be enough.

"Forgive me," Mina whispered and shoved two fingers into Emma's throat. Emma's gag reflex took over and Mina held her hair back as Emma's stomach did the rest. They did it twice more before Mina was certain there wasn't anything left.

"I'm sorry," Emma whispered, "Mina, I"m so sorry. I couldn't leave you alone. And then he was out there and dragging me out of the car."

Mina pulled Emma closer, "We have to get out of here."

"Emma!"

Emma looked up, "Dad!"

She stood up and raced over to the father. She wrapped her arms around him and held him tightly.

Mina gripped the car and leaned against it.

"We have to go."

"A few moments, Mina," Charming said weakly.

Mina couldn't think about what she just saw, she couldn't panic that Dracula was turning her friend right before her eyes, "Pandora's box didn't work. We have to have another plan before he comes back."

 _Before he comes back for Emma._

Emma had her wall up, Mina could tell. But Mina could also see the panic in her eyes. She could see the fear as she understood that if they didn't stop him, Emma would go through everything Mina did but worse.

"We have to go home."


	10. S04E10 - What They Died For

They all slept in the same room that night Charming was delivered to the Gold house safely. It took some time to settle down. Snow wouldn't stop hugging and thanking an uncomfortable Mina….and Emma took 3 showers between holding her son and spent three hours tossing and turning before she finally fell asleep in the cot next to her dad

Snow slept on the bed with Charming, her arms wrapped around him protectively. Emma slept curled in on herself, but her hand was in her father's.

The others slept on couches and cots around them. The babies slept in the bassinet next to Neal's bed.

Mina sat on the floor against them, with her knees drawn up against her chest. She had a shotgun resting across herself, ready to strike if anything should break through what little defenses they had against Dracula.

He didn't know what else to do. Dracula had destroyed Pandora's box, that was their last hope. Sure they saved Charming and they knew what he wanted here.

He wanted Emma, and they couldn't stop him. If they locked him out, he'd just burn them out. If they stopped him from Emma, he'd punish all of them until he got her back. He wouldn't stop and they didn't know how to stop him.

Dracula would take Emma, Dracula would take Mina. Rumplestiltskin wouldn't be able to fulfill his promise to Alexander or his silent promise to Neal, David, and Snow that nothing would ever separate them from Emma again.

Mina stared at the wall, lost in though. Rumplestiltskin wandered towards her and put his hand on her shoulder. Something for stability, something to know that she was there.

Maybe it was to wordlessly falsely promise her that everything was going to be alright.

Mina looked up at him. He saw the broken tired look in her eyes. She knew what it was. She knew how little chance they had to succeed. He expected her to pull away.

But he saw some resistance melt, She reached out and put her hand on his.

And they waited.

00000000000000000000000000000000000000

 **Millenia Ago**

Before Dracula had named himself and before he had even remotely stepped on earth, he was named Ichor. He had parents, and a childhood and multiple brothers and sisters.

Before Mr. Dark named himself, he was Erebus, and he called himself brother.

And their childhood was very loving, far more than one could say for most of their god and demigod cousins. Many credited it to the fact their father stayed in his own realm and didn't concern himself with the petty matters of his brothers and sisters.

But that didn't stop them from leaking through.

"Father's acting oddly while mother's been pregnant with this one," Melinoë, their younger sister muttered

Ichor and Erebus shared looks together. She was the youngest. She was the jewel of their realm and the center of their father's universe. But her olive skin and black hair gave her away that her father was not the fair skin red haired man that all of them shared. But rather, his brother, that had a history of such things.

"Father always acts oddly when his children are born," Ichor told her, a dread creeping into his bones as he considered what their father acting oddly might mean, "It's what fathers do, I suppose."

Melinoë didn't know her father's true identity. As far as anyone was concerned, Hades was her official father.

And their mother, Persephone, was in the next room, bringing the next baby in the world.

If Hades wasn't the child's father, there would be no question of who the child's father might be.

00000000000000000000000000000000000000

 **Present Day**

Emma felt filthy.

No matter how many times she showered or washed her mouth out, She could feel that monster on her, she could still taste his blood. She could feel his hands holding her down-

Emma rushed to the bathroom to throw up again. He was going to take her, wasn't he? And she knew what was waiting for her. He would isolate her, kill her family, and it would take multiple times of drinking blood before she started to turn.

Any one of those was about to send her into panicked hyperventilations. She couldn't do that though, she had to be strong for her son and family. They needed her.

But how could she be strong? She was terrified, they were all going to die and it was her fault. He was here for her.

"Emma?" Her mother said, breaking her out of her thoughts.

It was one of those ways that mothers did when Emma had been tuning them out. She looked behind her, "I'm sorry, did you say something?"

"I just….I wanted to see how you were doing."

"Fine," the lie came so easily, she had been using it all her life, "I'm fine. You should check on dad. I'm sure he's awake by now."

"Not yet. I want to be here with you. I thought…you might want to talk about it."

Emma's heart raced faster, "I don't."

"Emma."

"Mom, if we don't kill him, he's going to kill all of you and he's going to turn me and it's going to be traumatizing and painful. I don't want to talk about it!"

"That won't happen."

Emma's anger flared, "Then how do we stop him? You have any ideas?"

Mina was in the corner, looked up as she was arranging her weapons, "Emma."

"Stay out of it"

"Piss off and calm down, this is your mother, this isn't Dracula who did this to you."

Her mom's eyes fell, "I just wanted to talk."

Emma felt a bit ashamed at her mom's face but she just still felt so angry that it had all come to this, "I can't talk about it."

"Okay," Snow sighed, "Would you like some lunch?"

"Yeah," Emma went back to looking out the window.

Mina went to stand by her, "That was a little rough, wouldn't you agree?"

Emma kept her gaze out the window, "She can't possibly understand. I wouldn't want her to."

"Your mother might understand more than you think."

"Like yours did?"

Mina tensed, "That's unfair."

Emma stopped and suddenly felt even more guilt piling on her, "I'm sorry."

"Contrary to what my shining positive personality might indicate, I know what it feels like to lash out and close yourself off. The difference is that Dracula forced me to though. And my family didn't know this monster existed. Well….my father did, but he's dead now. Bloody lying bastard…"

"Mina."

Mina sat on the seat facing her, she swallowed nervously and took her friend's hand.

"I wanted him to stop," Emma finally said. It felt like a huge hurdle to say so, and her heart raced to even acknowledge it, but once she started, it felt like a dam broke, "He pulled me out of the car and he was drinking my blood and he….forced me to drink and I just wanted it to stop. Then you saw me- you saw it happen and…"

Mina wrapped her arms around her friend, Emma didn't cry like she thought she would, but she clung to Mina and tried not to have a panic attack.

Mina finally pulled away, "What he did, it wasn't your fault."

"I came without backup. I had magic and I'm the savior and he still overpowered me."

Mina playfully tugged her hair and tried to smile that frozen smile she gave when she didn't really mean it, "The backup's been proven not to work."

Emma summoned them both a drink and downed hers, "I guess that's right."

Mina took her own glass and stared out the window for a few moments, "You know, Dracula….he said a lot of things when I was there with him. He said that….if we won, I would never have a place here. Always have to have something to fight, you know."

Emma straightened, "Of course you'd have a place here.. Mina, you saved my dad. He's like….the most favored person in the town, I mean you're set for life now."

"I doubt it when I'm full vampire and I have an animal instinct the moment I smell blood."

Emma was quiet, "Lets say that we do beat this….you can't go back to hunting, you can't go back home, where else can you go?"

Mina bit the inside of her cheek, "Home is exactly where I need to go."

Emma felt her chest clench at the idea of losing her friend, "Mina-."

"I have unfinished business back home, Emma. You know I need to make things right. It's been far too long that I haven't. My family needs to meet Lizzie. "

Emma suddenly decided she might lose something either way this turned out.

"So I suppose you and I getting together is a definite 'no' then," Emma filled up her drink.

Mina smiled a bit, grateful for the subject change, "I think while we may have a great dalliance, I'm not the person for you."

And there it was, the blunt truth of the matter, "Yeah. I think….I think it's going to be Neal. I don't know when it'd be, but ti's going to be Neal. I think when we talked and you were interested too, I saw you as just…"

"Safe?"

"Yeah."

"Yeah me too," Mina admitted.

For some reason it felt….liberating being able to admit that, "For what it's worth, it would have been more than a dalliance for me."

"Me too," Mina squeezed her hand and stood up.

"Where are you going?" Emma asked.

"I'm going to find my daughter and hold her. God knows when the last time will be."

"Okay."

Mina walked towards the door and stopped, "For what it's worth, I sort of need a sister more than anything."

Emma smiled, "Same"

She waited until Mina left and then went to wrap her robe around herself.

She knew what she needed to do to protect her family. She just was terrified knowing she'd have to do it.

00000000000000000000000000000000

Neal felt useless. His father had magic, so did Regina and Emma. Mina had lots of guns that she liked shooting. Red had abilities. He had…a lot of luck really, it was a miracle he had lived this long.

And it was radio silent on things he needed to do. He didn't know where he stood in all this.

He looked in the foreground where his son was playing poker with Emma and shut the door so that he could talk to his dad, who was preparing lunch, "To think, a month ago we were planning a fishing trip."

"The one good thing I suppose this led us to was the fact I've escaped everyone seeing me wearing jeans."

"I guess both events can rival the other in how horrific they are," Neal muttered sarcastically and started making himself a sandwich.

Rumplestiltskin put his hand on Neal's shoulder, "Are you okay?"

"We could all die and that monster assaulted Emma. I'm wonderful."

"I know we haven't talked about what's all been going on."

Neither had Emma. Seemed to be a recurring theme.

'You've been busy with this whole…Dracula and Alexander thing."

"I promise when we've defeated him, you and I will take Henry and take a vacation. I think he needs it far more than us."

"Yeah….if we survive," Neal said, "I feel like….whatever's getting Dracula back may be linked to how you resurrected."

"I resurrected because Mr. Dark stole Robin Hood's heart and forced him to open the vault."

"How did you come back? It's more than the vault and the key, isn't it?"

"The vault is it," Rumple told him, "And….the dagger."

Neal glanced up, "How so?"

"It provides an anchor, a sort of way for me to get back."

Neal stopped, "You haven't told us anything about an anchor that allowed you to come back."

He heard his dad stop cutting tomatoes, "Haven't I?"

"No."

"I thought I did."

It was a lie, he could tell, "I thought you hiding things from us was done."

"It was," Rumple snapped.

"So then you just happened to forget to tell us about an anchor thing?"

Rumplestiltskin glared up at him, "And what do YOU think the anchor is, Bae? When Alexander and I went after Dracula, he was turning women everywhere he went. We managed to get them all killed, because we could barely keep up and it was too late for them.. Mina Harker killed the other two surviving wives, and Henry killed Alina. Mina finished her off and he still wants her to be one of his brides. He wants Emma to be the other one because her blood restores her faster."

Neal was tense, "You think he's turning the women and they're his anchor."

"I do. Anyone that comes back from the dead has to have a link to hold him to this earth."

"Like a horcrux?" Neal asked.

Rumplestiltskin scoffed, "I have no idea what that is."

"Me either," Mina said from the doorway.

They both turned to see her leaning against it, her face impassive but there was fear in her eyes. She understood what they were talking about, clearly. As far as they knew, she was the last anchor that kept Dracula alive.

What if in order to defeat him, she had to die?

Rumplestiltskin came and took her shoulders, "We are going to do everything we can to defeat him."

"We have, it doesn't work," Mina pulled away, "He is alive because he is connected to me."

"We'll find another way. I'm the king of finding other solutions. No one believed I would be able to cast the dark curse and I did, three hundred years later."

"We don't have three hundred years."

"Mina, just please," he promised her father he would keep her safe, "Just trust me. I know we're not close but I need you to trust me. I'm not going to let anything happen to you."

"And that's probably why he won't die," Mina pulled away again.

"Mina, wait," Neal went to stop her.

"Emma shouldn't be left alone," Mina looked at them, "We should take shifts to watch her. The moment it gets dark, there should be two people."

"Fine," Neal looked at his terrified father.

"And I've sharpened and cleaned my weapons. I think I should start handing them out."

Neal understood the implications too, "And Henry?"

Mina nodded, "He'll be the first one Dracula might target to isolate Emma. And bloody hell, we all saw how good a marksman he was. I don't think we have to worry about him shooting on accident."

"I just don't like the idea of him with a gun."

"I know," Mina put her hand on his shoulders, "but it's for his safety."

That was what Neal was afraid of.

"Mina," Rumplestiltskin called after her, "We're going to find an alternate way to defeat him. You won't have to die.

"Sure," Mina told him with no emotion and went to walk away, "I believe you."

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

 **Millenia Ago**

They named him Zagreus. He was perfect in every way according to the many doctors in the Underworld that examined him.

"No curse has touched him," Persephone said, while her husband stood over her protectively. He was uncharacteristically closed off. Ichor studied him carefully,. His father was only this closed off when holding court with his subjects.

Erebus, his brother nudged him with his elbow and nodded down to Melinoë and then the baby. They had the same complexion, the same dark hair that none of the other siblings of Hades and Persephone had.

Zagreus, like Melinoë was more than likely Zeus's child.

He remembered when Melinoë was born, he remembered his father's grief when they all put it together what Zeus had done. He remembered his father taking in the child and loving her like his own and this would more than likely be the outcome for their brother as well, but his father had to take his time over the matter first. His love for his wife didn't wane. It never would, but to acknowledge yet another child was not his by his brother's deception…

Ichor understood such things took time, but seeing as he had no children himself, he couldn't say he completely understood what his father was going through.

"He's lovely, mother," Melinoë told her mother and kissed her forehead.

"Quite the spitting image," Erebus muttered, which prompted a furious look from their father.

"He is your brother," Persephone said tersely, "Fathered by Hades, No matter what may be said."

"What would be said?" Melinoë asked, eyes full of innocence.

Hades stepped around the bed, "Perhaps you would be so kind as to go and fetch the rest of your brothers and sisters, I'm sure they're around here somewhere."

"Alright, papa," Melinoë turned and left, giving one last kiss to her brother and mother.

Hades waited til she was gone, "Obviously both of you have realized the truth about his parentage."

Persephone looked down, "It IS hard to conceal, my love."

Hades stroked her hair back, "Given the obvious implications, It's important that his birth not be proclaimed."

"Shouldn't want him cursed like the rest of us by Hera, I assume," Erebus muttered.

"She is quite jealous over a happy family, but she never gave any care for Melinoë. Why would she care about our brother?"

"Because between Ares temper and Hephaseus's looks,, Zeus seeks a perfect heir. He cannot find it in Hera, and since her temper makes her most disagreeable, he finds it in others. As he has found it in your mother," Hades told them.

"Hera knows he seeks a son, and he looks elsewhere but as far as he knows, he has only fathered a daughter with me," Persephone told them.

"Well, he cannot die, so why should an heir matter to HIM?" Erebus asked.

"Of course he can die, we all can die," Persephone snapped, "Which is also why it's important to protect your siblings. It may be possible that Zeus might wish to put your brother on the throne should mortality claim HIM"

"What does that mean for you?" Ichor asked his mother.

"Hopefully my use to him will be done then and he'll never disguise himself as your father to visit me again," Persephone hissed.

"It must not be known that a new child has been born," Hades told them, "See to your siblings and make sure they know as well. The things Hera would do if she found out…it'd make Ichor's need for blood and your love for chaos pale in comparison to any worse curses she could inflict on us."

"It will eventually be discovered, Hera has her spies everywhere," Ichor reminded them and squeezed his mother's shoulder.

"Lets pray she doesn't have extremely loyal ones in the palace," Hades told them and took Zagreus from his mother. His face softened as soon as he looked into the boy's eyes and he kissed his head, "And lets pray that we are passed over by her wrath."

But they all knew they wouldn't.

It would only be a matter of time before they were found out.

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

 **Present Day**

Regina spent most of the morning with her son, until his father came to spend time with him next. Regina was still getting into the sharing thing, so she left them alone for awhile and went to search for her girlfriend.

She found Red in their bedroom. There were five knives and one gun on the bed. Red was sharpening a sixth one.

"What are you up to?" Regina asked.

"Getting ready for when Dracula comes back," Red told her.

Regina heard the rage in her voice, and tried to think of something to say, "Harker will kill you if she finds out you stole her weapons."

"She's giving them out."

"Oh," Regina msut've missed the memo….and getting a few knives herself. Bitch.

"Not that these will do any good but maybe with my abilities as a wolf, I can rip him apart."

Regina almost felt her blood run cold, "Don't talk like that."

"Why shouldn't I? He killed my grandmother, my friends, and he's trying to take my goddaughter."

"I think I speak from experience when I say that seeking vengeance never ends well."

Red scoffed, "Because I'll get a big black hole in my heart, right?"

"You will break yourself down and never get back up the way you were."

"I've killed before."

"On accident….or in war….or to protect someone."

"I'm protecting people in this war, ti's justified."

"I think you want revenge."

Red sighed, "Is that so bad?"

"It starts you down a path that you don't want to go down. Your heart will darken and then worse things become just a bit easier. Now do you really want that?"

"Mina's done bad things, her heart may be dark….but she's still a hero. She still goes out there to save people"

"Well, I'm sure the hunter will be the first to tell you that she's not exactly an example to live by."

"It doesn't matter," Red stood up, "There are ways to be a hero that aren't as cut and dry as ours and if I have to kill a monster….why is that a bad thing?"

"Red. I love you. I don't want you to go down the same path that I did."

"I'm not. I'm not taking out my anger on a ten year old."

Regina stiffened, but what could she REALLY say? She couldn't lose her temper when she was trying to convince her girlfriend not to lose her temper and do something she'd regret.

"i'm going to fight him," Red said, "And if the opportunity presents itself, I'm going to kill him. For my grandmother and everyone else he's killed."

And she left the room.

0000000000000000000000000

 **Millenia Ago**

They had five years with their brother before Hera found out.

She sent her armies when Hades took his older children with him to Elysian to meet the mortals there. None were particularly interested except maybe Melinoë, but it was their job to rule and in that, they would have to learn how mortals were judged. They spent a week there. And when they came back, they found their palace in flames. They found their servants and their guards dismembered or put in the fiery pit.

They heard their mother screaming.

000000000000000000000000000

"Hera killed her army to send them here," Hades told them two days later when her finally left his sleeping wife's side, "She unleashed the titans to accompany them. It was over in minutes."

No one said anything for a long time. The children sobbed, clinging to their older siblings. Erebus stared angrily ahead, Ichor met his gaze. His brother wanted vengeance, so did Ichor. What mattered now was getting their father's blessing and that wouldn't be an easy task. Not after losing their little brother.

"This cannot stand," Melinoë started.

"A war amongst the gods would be catastrophic," Hades said sharply, "And I will not lose my other children to something we would all lose. He would have the other gods on his side if we went after Hera. After all, it is HIS wife under threat."

"We can't just let it be."

And then a thought occurred to Ichor, "We won't. Kings and emperors don't go after the castles first, they target the people. They target the crops and the animals and the temples."

"So what's your proposal then, we go after Zeus's realm? Terrorize the human cattle that roam there? What will that accomplish?" Erebus demanded.

"It hurts him. He loses his crops, his offerings, the faith of his people. And all the while we collect them in our realm. We cannot take it out on the gods, so let us take our vengeance in the next best thing."

"He will not care unless it's a pretty woman he wants to have," Melinoe said and stared at her glass of wine.

"And it will lead to war," Hades said, "And thus I forbid it."

"Not if they don't know it's us. We will disguise ourselves."

"No. I am your father. You cannot leave this realm without my permission. You don't have it, you will stay here and help me run the realm and comfort your mother," Hades snapped.

"I will not let my brother's death go unpunished."

"Punishing the humans in Zeus's realm accomplishes nothing."

"It will hurt HIM," Ichor said, "And if he finds out then we will tell him what Hera did. And we will let them fight it out amongst themselves. It's HIS heir after all."

"We can't we tell him now?" Melinoë asked.

"And turn his wrath on us for not telling him about the baby? His precious heir? No. No, it's best we hit him and weaken him first. And add to ourselves before we let them know what was done."

"I forbid it, this could only lead to the loss of you or your brothers and sisters and I will not let it happen. I am still your father. I will not bury more children."

He stood and leave.

But their minds were already made up. They would be forgiven later. Ichor was his father's favorite by open secret. If there was anyone that could lead this and be forgiven, it was him.

And so Ichor, who was cursed by a jealous Hera to consume blood renamed himself Dracula and prowled the world above looking for those he could manipulate, change, and kill. The first hunter to go after him was sloppy and led him back to the cabin where he killed him in front of his daughter. That's how he met and fell in love with Alina.

Erebus, cursed with a love for chaos, a cold heart, and sterility, fed on people's fears. He took them to his side as his 'family' to feed on more and more. He created the Dark Ones as his children, he sent them to as many worlds as he could find and provided vaults so that they, like he and his siblings, might come back if killed.

Melinoe didn't change her name. She didn't need to. Her father never granted her permission to leave the Underworld. She found she didn't need to travel to the world above to bring nightmares and madness to the people under Zeus's charge. And when she felt she might be bold and get away with it, she send some nightmares to Hera and Zeus as well.

The other siblings followed as they grew older and more bold. They created, they birthed, they used their curses to their benefits.

And monsters were created.

00000000000000000000000000000

 **Present Day**

Charming was vaguely aware of what was going on around him at any given time. It was like being sick with the fever where nothing mattered but trying to get sleep, and then sleeping fitfully with strange dreams until you woke up again.

He knew they'd saved him. He was too weak to really wake up and thank them but he knew that he was safe.

It took hours of resting before he was able to open his eyes. He was laying in a room of a house he didn't recognize at first, but then some memories returned and he realized this had been the room they stayed in when they were hiding with Mr. Gold.

He saw his wife sitting next to him. Her head in her hands. It took all his strength to reach over and take her hand. She jumped at the touch and looked up. He could see that her eyes were red and her face was splotchy. She'd been crying.

"Charming," Her hesitation melted away, she took his face in her hands and started crying again, "You're awake."

"Hey," He smiled and touched her cheek, "You're a lot more beautiful than the last face I've been staring at."

Snow let out a giggle and a sniffle, she held his hand and kissed it, "I will always find you."

"How did you get me out?"

Snow looked down, "It was Emma and Mina. They concocted…..I don't even know if THEY called it a plan. But it worked and they managed to get you out."

"Is he dead?"

Snow shook her head, "No, he's not."

Charming was quiet. He could see the tension in his wife's shoulders. She was avoiding his eyes now, "What else is wrong?"

Snow looked up, "Oh Charming, you need to get some rest."

"No. Snow….what did he do?"

Snow looked down again, "Too much. I don't think we're going to get out of this okay."

He took her hand, "Tell me."

00000000000000000000000000000000000000

Emma needed another shower. She was staring to remember the feel of Dracula again. This time, she was lucky, it didn't send her into the bathroom with the urge to throw up after what he did to her. Maybe that part was coming to an end.

She finished her shower and stared at herself in the mirror. It was getting dark, he was going to be coming and she knew what she had to do.

He would burn the town down, he already proved that. And he wouldn't stop until he had what he wanted.

Emma had to do her role as a savior, she had to do her role as a mother to protect her son and this town.

They were out of options.

So she opened her window, She showered until the water got cold and she came out, shaking as she knew he'd be in the room.

"I thought to suspect a trap when you lowered the shield," Dracula said as she came back in.

Emma ignored him at first and went to lock the bedroom door.

"You've already proven we can't beat you."

He seemed amused, "Indeed. But I do give you credit for trying as hard as you have. I didn't even know Pandora's box still existed. And sending Mina back to me? It was a delightful visit."

"I want to make a deal," Emma cut in.

He blinked slowly, a small smirk formed, "You know what I want."

"I certainly do."

"Mina won't like you're selling both of you out."

"Mina doesn't come with the deal."

"It's both of you."

"You don't need her," Emma told him, "You need me. I'm the one with the blood that can heal you. Leave her alone, let her raise her daughter. Let her help raise my son if she wants to. But you're here for me. Take me instead."

0000000000000000000000000000000000000

Charming was too tired at first to react to the news of the deaths in the town. However, when Snow told him about what that monster did to Emma, he was up and looking for his baby.

Snow said Emma was pushing them away. But he was going to talk to her. He wanted to see her and comfort her. That was what fathers were supposed to do to their children

She wasn't in her room, he tried the next two but they were empty. The third one, where they put the nursery had Mina standing over the crib holding both babies Mina looked up, startled and wiped her tears away, "You're awake. Good."

Charming couldn't imagine what it must have been like for her too. To face that monster in his own territory….just to put him in a box and save Charming.

He moved forward. Mina tensed as he got closer. He knew the walls when he saw them but he didn't care. He wrapped his arms around her. She went rigid at first, and started to pull away. He would've let her, but finally she stopped and returned the embrace.

"It was a brave thing you did for me. I know…you don't feel like you have a place here, but I want you to know that you do. You will always be welcome here for what you did. Thank you," he whispered.

Mina pulled away, "It was suicidal. There was barely any plan."

"Sometimes you can't have one."

"Against this man, it's always best to have a plan," Mina whispered, "Otherwise he ends up not quite dead."

"We'll think of something."

Mina stared at her feet, "I think I may already have something."

Snow looked up, "You do? what?"

"I-," she stopped as Belle passed the hallway, "OI! Why aren't you with Emma? It's your watch"

Belle stopped, "Well…Emma told me that you were going to take over watching her."

"No I'm not, I"m watching her with Rumple tonight."

"Well I guess Emma wasn't told-."

Mina's eyes grew, "Dammit!"

"What?"

"Get Rumple."

She raced out of the room and up the stairs to the third floor.

00000000000000000000000000000000

Emma's heart hammered in her chest as Dracula took her up to another floor of the house. This was it, wasn't it? What Mina and the others had gone through because of him. She didn't know if he would uphold his promise not to destroy her family and her town after he turned her. She just had to hope, she had to do something to save them because nothing was working. She saw how friend kept to herself all day, she saw how weak her dad was and what it did to her mother, her son, and the others. She couldn't stand idly by and just risk Dracula killing them all.

Dracula closed the door behind them and went to stand in front of her. He started to say something and hesitated. He almost looked sorry, "It really isn't a painful transformation, Emma."

"Mina says otherwise."

"Mina fought it the whole time and she lost everything anyway. Is that the fate you wish for yourself?"

Emma closed her eyes, she really wanted to shower and vomit again, "No."

"And that's the deal you want. You will come with me willingly and we will go to my castle. You will not fight and I leave Mina and her daughter alone."

"Yes."

"Mina's mine to have, Emma. She won't take this lightly"

"No, she doesn't belong to anyone. She has a daughter, she's not going to do anything to risk that baby dying she's not going to come after us."

"On the contrary, I hope she does," Dracula snarled.

"Lets just get this done."

"You don't want to say goodbye to your family?" He mocked.

"I think we both know that wouldn't end well for anyone," Emma said, though she wished she could see her parents and son now more than ever.

Dracula stepped forward. He almost looked sympathetically at her, "For what it's worth, I'm sure they're proud of you."

When they forgave her, "Why are you stretching this out?"

"I'm not. If you're going to be with me for eternity, I'd at least rather you be happy."

"You know what would make me happy?"

"I can imagine it wouldn't be a fortunate thing for me," He opened his shirt a bit. Emma recoiled and nearly changed her mind as he cut his chest with his nail. She was getting sick, she was getting dizzy. She wasn't sure she could endure this. Having him with her for eternity? Craving blood? Turning and brainwashed to want him? How could she do this?

She couldn't imagine, what if this was too much for even her to do?

Dracula stepped forward and grabbed her by the back of her hair.

The door flew open and slammed against the wall.

"Mina," Dracula crooned, "What a pleasant surprise. We were just talking about you."

"Mina get out of here," Emma said.

"No, whatever he's offering you it isn't worth it. He's a liar, and you're throwing everything back in my face by surrendering yourself to him."

"What choice do I have?"

"Exactly, what choice do either of you have?"

"I have a choice," Mina said and stepped forward, "Because I've figured it out. I know why you need us alive. You could've just killed me if you didn't need me but you do need me, don't you? I'm the last anchor after Alina died. You live and keep coming back because when you turn us, when you…do what you do, you keep a bit of yourself tied to this world don't you? It allows you to come back each and every time."

"If that was the case, most vampires could come back."

"But do they have a vault?"

He stopped, he paled.

"Mina get away," Emma begged

"The way we kill you is to break those bonds you force on us," Mina hissed, "Emma. I'm so sorry."

Then Emma saw the knife in her hands just a fraction of a second before Dracula did.

"NO!" He started forward.

Mina drove the knife into her own stomach.

And the world went quiet. Emma was sure she was screaming as she ran forward to her falling friend. Dracula smelled the blood and raced forward as well. He was an animal at the end of the day, ready to feed.

Something threw him back, away from Emma and Mina.

Red held him against the wall.

"You miserable bastard," Red whispered.

Emma didn't look as the rest of her family came in. She ignored Regina holding Dracula in place as the others drew swords. She ignored Rumple coming in and staring at Emma holding Mina's insides in.

"You have to fix her, you have to heal her."

"No," Mina croaked out, "Don't. If you heal me, he comes back."

"This isn't up for negotiations."

"HE COMES BACK, I HEARD YOU."

"NO!" Emma started sobbing, "No, you can't die. We don't even know you're the last one. We'll find a way to kill him but we aren't letting you die.'

"You don't have a choice," Mina told them, "This has to be it. He can't be near this or any town again, you know what he'll do to the women."

"Rumple!" Regina yelled.

"Not now!"

"I can't hold him."

"SHE'S DYING!" He screamed, "Mina, I promised your father."

"If I die, and he dies permanently, my daughter will be safe. So will Henry."

Rumple's face fell as she brought up his grandson.

"Please," Mina coughed, "Let me save my daughter. Let me end this."

"I can't. You can't ask this of me. I can't fail another one of my family."

"You're not."

"You're going to die."

"We can save her right?" Emma begged, "We can find another way."

But what did they have? They couldn't risk him coming back. And if they saved her, Mina just might find another way to end her own life

And then, Mina wasn't breathing. Rumple felt her life slowly drain away

"No!" Emma screamed and shook her, "No, bring her back, we can bring her back."

"I can't," Rumplestiltskin couldn't look at her.

Because he had to make the hard decision. Because he chose his son over everyone for centuries and it destroyed countless people. He didn't get to be there for Alexander and his family.

He had to chose everyone this time over Mina. Because Dracula coming back, if he could, would be far more catastrophic than just sparing Mina. No one would in.

And what made it all terrible was that he HAD to believe that Mina was the last anchor given how Dracula was fighting so hard to get ahold of her and Emma. But he didn't know for sure. Mina could die for nothing.

Dracula did this, he was the reason Mina died.

Emma was sobbing as she held her friend's lifeless body. It seemed to fade out as he focused on the monster that caused all this.

He used his magic to shove Dracula through two floors of the house.

"Rumple?!" Belle whimpered.

"Give me the machete," he took it from Neal.

"Dad….don't," Neal begged.

"Get them out of here," Rumplestiltskin said as the monster tried to pull himself up, "This isn't going to be pretty."

"Rumple," Belle begged.

"It has to be me, I'm the only one that has the stomach to do it, we both know I have to."

They would have to behead him, dismember him, burn him, and spread his ashes out. No one could do this but him.

He'd done far worse.

"Don't do anything in vengeance," Snow said. Dracula started to move towards the door. Snow quickly stopped her begging to pull an arrow out and fire into his shoulder, stopping him from going anywhere else

"There's no other way to do it," Rumplestiltskin took both himself and this demon away from the house in a haze of purple smoke.

They sat there in shocked silence. Everyone stumbled towards Emma and the body she was holding.

"I'm going to find him," Red said in a way that didn't indicate she was going to stop Rumple and went to leave.

"We have to bring her back," Emma sobbed, "Maybe the anchor's broken, maybe we can bring her back. She can't leave me, she can't be another person that leaves me behind."

No one made a move.

In the second floor, Mina's daughter started crying.


	11. S04E11 - A Call for Help

**7 Years Ago**

As Mina lay convalescing on her and Jonathan's bed, she was painfully aware of her surroundings. She knew that the doctors her mother kept calling hovered over her constantly, she knew her mother and husband hovered over her constantly, and then when she thought she'd have a moment's respite, there was Van Helsing…

…hovering over her constantly.

Her husband and Van Helsing knew what the matter was. She was turning into something that she was terrified of. She didn't know WHEN it would happen, just that one day she wouldn't wake up, she would appear dead and then resurrect into…

…resurrect into what Lucy was.

Mina sobbed as she thought about her fate. They felt no closer in finding out how they might kill the demon. Van Helsing believed he had a solution. It meant going back to that place, to that…bloody country. It meant going into that monster's home. She didn't want to, but she had no choice. Not even Jonathan really wanted to do it. He didn't say as much but she was aware enough that she could sense his fear, his silence on the matter. Why should he want to go back when he nearly died the last time? It seemed poetic almost, going back to the place that started this whole mess…but she didn't want to do it and neither did he. Frankly, it felt like this was a trap, like they were delivering her to Dracula without even knowing it.

"It is beautiful there," Jonathan tried to tell her as they lay in bed. Sometimes during the day, between arrangements being made, he took to just crawling in bed and holding her, "Eerily so."

"I suppose if we're not careful, I'll be glad to know that when I call it home."

It was dark, and uncalled for. But it was her way of coping with what had been done to her, over and over and over again.

"I'm sorry I was too weak to protect you," Jonathan said after a moment of silence, "I never thought- I never expected he might go after you. I thought he would come for me. I thought I was the target because I escaped."

"You couldn't have known this was his goal," Mina told him quietly

"I should have guessed it," he told her, his voice thick with grief, "I brought this on us. I put you through this because I didn't tell you. I thought you wouldn't believe me. I'm sorry, Mina."

Mina didn't know just how much she could put this on Jonathan. He had brought this thing back and he hadn't told her everything that was happening after Lucy died and she was being assaulted. If he did…maybe, he could've seen faster that something was wrong. He might have seen that and figured out that bastard attacked her in the night until she was like this.

But Dracula had asked for him specifically. Why had he done that? Where had he heard Jonathan's name? Was it because he was unknown? Because no one but family would miss him or Mina? Jonathan hadn't won any particularly big cases. He wasn't that involved in foreign law…. why had Dracula been drawn to him? There were plenty of English lawyers that he might get into England through, far more that had better ties to whatever political or military or female access he could get his claws into.

Mina also had uncles in the Navy, and if this bastard could use that to stretch his claws even further….

Mina shivered. Was that why he chose them? Because of her family? Her uncles and their connections?

Nothing else made sense. THAT didn't even make sense.

"We'll beat this," he promised her, "And we'll leave London for a bit until we find a new home. Perhaps go out in the country for a bit while you recover."

It was a nice dream but Mina knew what little chance this had of working, "What if we fail?"

"Then turn me."

It was so simple, the way Jonathan said it. But Mina couldn't even consider it, "You are asking me to ultimately kill you and I won't do that. You could move on; you could find someone not as much trouble as me."

"I married you because you were trouble," He teased in a whisper.

"Jonathan, I'm serious."

"I won't have you alone with that beast."

"I don't expect you have a choice," Mina whispered while shaking. Turning took more than one attempt as she found out. If Dracula truly wanted her and she was under his thrall, he would find Jonathan and kill him.

They both lay there in silence. Mina heard a knock at the door and closed her eyes as her mother came in. Her mother believed this was an illness, the same malady that had nearly killed Jonathan and had killed Lucy. They hadn't told her the truth yet. How could they? She may believe them but at the end of the day how did they tell a woman her daughter was attacked nightly by a demon and she might never see her again when they left for Romania?

"Beth," Jonathan eased himself out of bed and went to see her at the door, "She's asleep."

"Is she alright?"

"She's stable for now."

"And emotionally?"

"She's scared."

"There are other doctors we might try."

"I think they'll be just as dumbfounded as any of them."

"We have to keep trying, she's wasting away," Mina heard the door open slightly and then her mother stopped as she looked in the corner of the room, "Why is the trunk packed?"

There was hesitation, "We're going to take Mina to Transylvania….to try and find a cure."

And then there was more silence. "When were you going to tell me?"

"Tonight."

"Because you simply forgot beforehand, I'm sure."

"Beth, we didn't even know it would be tomorrow until this morning."

"I'm going with you," she heard her mother say in a way that Mina was used to hearing when her mother decided something and that would be the end of it.

"No, Beth. It's dangerous."

"Why?"

"You might get the illness too."

"I stayed with you, Lucy, and now Mina and I haven't gotten ill."

"You might carry it over to the rest of your family then, you can't risk that!"

"Don't throw my family around as an excuse. She's my daughter! If you take her on that train and ask me to stay behind, I may never see her again. I may never get to say goodbye and it'll be because you excluded me. I don't expect either one of us would ever forgive you when you realize that's what you've done. I'm going with you; I'll pack a bag."

They couldn't risk it. The lie would have to be exposed if she came with them. She might see Mina turn. She might be by her side when Mina woke up needing blood.

Mina couldn't even consider killing her own mother.

And if Mina didn't kill her, Dracula certainly would. She couldn't be the reason her mother died. Not when he'd already killed Lucy and countless other innocent people.

Jonathan promised Beth they would leave in the morning.

But he knew the dangers to Beth as well because that night when Beth was asleep, they left the trunk behind and boarded a train to Transylvania.

000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

 **Present Day**

It took a few moments for anyone to move when Lizzie started crying in another room. They were all staring down either at Mina's body or at each other.

Rumpelstiltskin had taken Dracula, Red had followed. It had left the rest of them there.

"Mina?" Emma whispered and shook her body again, like she might somehow be revealed to be alive after all. When it hit Emma that she was truly dead, and everything Mina had worked for for her own future had been for nothing, she started sobbing harder.

She felt her mother's arms envelop her but she hardly reacted. Another person dead that she couldn't save. And she didn't even understand why Mina had killed herself, not really. Had Mina figured it out? Was this a way to truly stop him for good? Or was Mina just suicidal and hoped for the best?

Emma had known Mina might be suicidal to some degree when she talked about why she went into hunting. She didn't think anyone who went into that line of business was completely sane. But to do this? To…leave her daughter like this? What had she found out to make her believe this was the answer?

Would this kill Dracula for good? What if it didn't? What if he came back and Mina was dead? What if she couldn't protect her daughter?

What if this went on and on?

"She's dead," Emma sobbed.

Regina brought in a blanket and covered up Mina's body. Emma nearly stopped her, there was something final about putting a blanket over Mina's face, and Emma didn't WANT that finality.

But she was dead, she wasn't in that body anymore, and Emma was so tired of fighting.

"Where's Henry?" Emma finally asked.

"He's with his father," Regina even made it sound like she wasn't sneering when she mentioned Neal this time.

"I need to go to him," Emma stood up. Henry would be scared, he'd have questions. Emma had to be there for him.

"Emma."

Emma's legs shook as she stumbled towards the door, "We have to plan another funeral. I have a town to reassure…I don't have time to- I'll mourn later. In my own way."

There was more to do than to sit there clutching her friend's body. She was a leader, she had to lead.

Emma made her way to Henry's room. She tried to gather herself. Henry had had a hard couple of months, he needed her to be strong. He needed her comforting him, she was his mother.

She opened the door and found Neal talking with Henry. Henry was pale, his eyes were red. Emma's stomach clenched when she realized he had been crying. Where had she been? Crying over a dead body while her son was holed up in another room. Even if it was for a few moments, it was too much.

She'd failed everyone today.

Without a word, she crossed the room and pulled Henry into a tight embrace

"It's okay to cry," she promised him.

Henry started sobbing. Emma closed her eyes tightly to keep from breaking down as well, but it didn't work. The stress they'd been through for years, Mina's death, her own near sacrifice…it was too much to think about. She couldn't think about it now.

Neal stepped forward. Emma reached out and took his hand. She clung to it desperately, she just…needed someone there. Someone that didn't see her as a daughter, or as a savior, or a mom that needed to be strong.

Something stirred in her belly, but she pushed it down.

She couldn't face these emotions. Not now.

Neal looked past here, where Charming walked back and forth trying to sooth Mina's daughter and Snow watched them with concern, "Where's my dad?"

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Rumpelstiltskin had promised Belle after Neverland that he was done with the senseless violence and rash impulses. He was done with manipulating and hurting people. He was going to change; he was going to be the man she thought he could be. Belle hadn't really understood that there would always be a part of him dwelling in that darkness, it wasn't something he was proud of either. But she would accept that he'd do what he had to do.

The way he would take apart Dracula wasn't exactly something Belle was thrilled with but she didn't really challenge Rumple over it. She knew the monster wouldn't stop, the burning of the diner showed that. Him nearly burning the hospital down showed that.

So, she didn't voice anger when she knew Rumple would have to literally rip him apart and burn him into ash to keep him from coming back.

However, he did NOT need to throw Dracula into anything from buildings to trees as he took out his anger on the bastard that started all this. He did it anyway, he didn't care. The bastard murdered his son. He ruined Mina's life and now she was dead too.

And part of it was Rumple's fault, he had said how to kill Dracula; Mina had heard him. She believed that would be the only way to stop Dracula.

And she had killed herself. Because of him.

"Quiet now, aren't you?" Rumpelstiltskin asked as the rage was finally simmering down to tranquil anger, as Dracula tried to crawl away. This was it? This was the monster they were all so scared of? He seemed smaller now, less of a threat. Rumple wasn't fooled though; he had fought him twice. He knew what needed to be done, "no arrogance. No showmanship, no dominance. You've lost. You won't come back." 

"You so sure about that? Dracula sneered.

"I hope for your sake, you can't," Rumpelstiltskin snarled, "Because if you do, what I do to you will make what I'm about to do to you seem like child's play."

He felt someone nearby and looked up. He saw Red Riding Hood come into the clearing.

"If you stop me, dearie," he hissed, "I'll turn you into a toad." 

"I'm not here to stop you," Red told him, the anger evident in her voice, "I'm here to help."

Rumpelstiltskin let the darkness take over then, he would need plenty of it to get through what he was about to have to do to make sure this monster was dead, "Then by all means, you're just getting to the best part of the show."

They both stepped forward to the crawling man.

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Saving his life was not something Charming took lightly. In a lot of ways, he was the expendable one to a lot of people. He wasn't royalty by right, like Snow was. He wasn't in a brotherhood, like the dwarves were. He had no surviving family, he wasn't a trained military, and he wasn't magical.

He was just someone that was lucky enough for Snow to have fallen in love over and fathered a savior. He wasn't…special. He never wanted to be. He wanted justice done for Snow's kingdom and he just wanted to love her, and love Emma and raise his family.

But he knew he was expendable. He knew nothing would be lost if he died. That's why he took Mina going into the house and facing down her monster to save him very seriously.

And now he could never repay it to her personally, so he did the next best thing. He fed her daughter, he soothed her when she cried and he rocked her to sleep. Emma didn't want to see them yet. She had taken Henry and gone to the town to call a meeting. She was hiding behind her savior job so she didn't have to face her feelings about everything she nearly lost. He would be patient, he would gently prod her when she was alone, and he would reach her. Now wasn't the time, and he knew it.

"I don't know how to comfort Emma," Snow whispered as they sat in the nursery, "I couldn't do it when we thought Neal died, she won't let me now…she's building her walls up again like she always does when something bad happens. And I'm on the outside looking in."

"She just lost her friend."

"And I'm supposed to know what to do and what to say. My mother always did."

"Mine didn't," Charming told her gently, "And there's nothing wrong with not knowing."

"There is if it means she suffers alone. We've all given ourselves to save the ones we love most...but what are we supposed to tell each other when someone else does it for us?"

Charming wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close, "She hasn't shut us out, I think she just needs her space to process. He did a lot of damage and there's a lot of work that needs doing before we all feel safe again."

"Until the next threat comes," Snow went to stand over Lizzie's crib.

"Maybe it's done, maybe we can rest."

Snow reached down and took Lizzie's tiny hand, "What do we do?"

Charming went to wrap his arms around his wife and stared down at her tiny face as she slept next to Robert. That was the question, wasn't it? What happened to baby Lizzie now that her mother was dead? "I don't know."

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Regina didn't pursue Red. Some would say she didn't love her enough to stop her but that wasn't true. She did love Red with everything, but she knew Red wouldn't listen. She was grieving too hard over her grandmother and lost friends to be stopped.

The only thing she could do was restrain her and that would end the relationship right there.

So, she did the adult thing, she let Red make her own choice. She had talked to her for days but it did no good. Talking to her now would make no difference.

Maybe she should have tried. Would that help? No, Regina had to be there for the town that she was still inexplicably mayor of. She was there with Emma and Henry…and the sperm donor. She stayed by her son's side, he needed her just as much as he needed Emma.

She only stepped away for one moment; when they were all leaving after updating the town that Dracula was…most likely dead. She'd gotten herself separated in the crowd on purpose.

It was easier than she thought to slip into the morgue where the hunter's body was.

Regina didn't like her, she never would. It was asking a lot to even tolerate the other woman's presence. But Regina knew what she'd been through, and she knew Mina's greatest fears. She feared Dracula. She feared losing control again and she feared dying only to come back as a vampire

It was unlikely, but Regina wasn't about to take chances.

She found the drawer containing Mina's body and pulled it out. She took a moment to compose herself before pulling the sheet back, exposing the knife wound that Mina drove into herself.

Stupid, stupid. There could have been another way.

Regina reached out and sealed the wound with magic. She put her hand on the woman's head and preserved her, freezing her as she was now. It was no different than what she'd done to Daniel all those years ago.

She doubted Mina would come back, but this did give Regina peace of mind to hopefully sleep SOME tonight. Just in case.

Regina heard the door open and turned. She froze when she came face to face with Emma. They both stared at each other for a few moments, both confused.

"What are you doing here?" Emma asked.

"Making sure she doesn't come back as that thing," Regina told Emma honestly. She was on her guard at being caught like this. The last time they'd really talked, Emma had taken her custody away. She'd seen too much of Mr. Dark's mirrors for Emma to EVER trust her again.

"Oh."

"What are you doing here?"

"I'm bringing her some clothes for the funeral," Emma said. She threw the bag on the table, Regina bent it towards her to see Emma had put a yellow tea dress with white flowers decorated into the bag.

"That doesn't seem like her."

"She liked yellow," Emma told her defensively, "It was cheerful."

"Just didn't expect it, I suppose." Regina sort of imagined her dressed in all black being buried with her guns to be honest.

Emma went to put the blanket back over Mina's head, "Have you heard from Red?"

"No."

"Do you think she's okay?"

"She's with Rumple, I think he'll keep her safe. They have the same goal right now."

Emma was quiet, "I'm surprised you didn't go after her."

"I wanted to. But I'm afraid of what I'd do to stop her."

And there it was. The fact that Regina knew she wasn't changing as much as she wanted to.

They watched each other for several beats, "I think…maybe you should take Henry for a few days."

Regina blinked, "You still under Dracula's thrall?"

"That's not funny."

"You threw such a fit before at the idea of him spending any unsupervised visits with me. You know what I'm capable of, you heard me say that I'm still worried about what I'm capable of, and you're giving Henry over to me? If it's not a thrall, it's a trap."

"There are things I have to do," Emma told her, "The town isn't sold on them being safe and I need to bury my friend. I need Henry to see I'm trying to work with you in keeping him safe, I need to find a place where I can move so that Henry isn't at the Gold home where he was terrorized in or my parents' house where he died for the first time. Now are you going to take him like you've wanted or are you going to keep playing the victim card over the fact that you lost him for your actions?!"

They stared angrily at each other for a few moments. Regina realized maybe she HAD changed more than what she thought she had because she would've lashed out at anyone who talked to her like that years ago.

"Don't snap at me because you lost your girlfriend," Regina managed to tell her calmly.

"She wasn't my girlfriend."

"But you loved her."

Emma was silent on that, "It wouldn't matter. I wouldn't have chosen to be with her."

"I don't think you could know that."

"It's Neal, it's always going to be Neal."

"Does it matter? There was a chance, I guess. Now she's gone."

"She decided she was my sister," Emma said, refusing to think about what she might have lost, "She called herself my sister and a couple of hours later, she's stabbed herself to save us."

"I know what it's like to lose people you love."

"And to take them."

Regina flinched, she looked at the body of the hunter so she didn't have to look at Emma. She thought about what Cora had taken from her, how Rumple manipulated her. She used to tell herself that of course she would go down the road she went down with those influences.

But she chose to follow Rumple, even after she banished her mother and left the castle and Leopold. She had listened to her father, but she had been the one to go back.

It was her own fault that this all happened. She had every opportunity to stop but she didn't. And she'd hurt so many people.

"I'm very very sorry for what I did to you," Regina told her, finally understanding what she'd taken, "Nothing will make up for it. I don't deserve the forgiveness you've given me, and I don't understand why you gave me so many chances."

"I did it for Henry."

"I know. And thank you."

Emma nodded, "So yeah if you could come get Henry for a couple of days…neither one of those houses have good memories for him."

"You're…" Regina started and prayed Emma would refuse, "You're welcome to stay at the house as well."

"I don't think you want that."

"No, but it might be good for Henry."

Emma considered it, "I think we both should have our own space."

Regina was relieved. She would work with Emma, she would probably never like her or consider her a close friend. The selfish possessive person in her would hate what Emma brought down on her head. The atoning one would always be ashamed of what she tried to put Emma through.

"I have a lot to do," Emma mumbled and went to leave.

0000000000000000000000000000000000000000

It was refreshing for Regina to have Henry back home even if it was just for a few days. She had planned for his favorite meals, maybe some activities together…she wanted to show him she was changing so he would at least WANT to come over more than he already was.

Maybe if she could prove she was trying to change and had apologized to Emma, there would be less supervised visits. Regina could have reacted in any number of ways when Emma put that restriction on her, but she hadn't. She had handled it well, she thought. Maybe this was her start of a reward for that.

"Do I still have to go to therapy?" Henry asked.

"Yes Henry, I promised Emma you still would."

Henry sighed, "I don't want to talk about this. It hurts and…. it's not going to help." 

"Sometimes talking helps," Regina said, though she didn't know herself, she had only been to like…three therapy sessions and it wasn't like she was doing it because she wanted to. She had only did it so Henry would like her again and want to come home, "I didn't have much of anyone to talk to when I was younger. I bottled up a lot of pain and anger and I…ended up like this."

"It's different."

"No, you've seen and been through far more than I have," Regina told him. Despite her mother being her mother, Regina hadn't been in as many life-threatening situations as her son had been, nor had she contributed in a monster's death like he had. She didn't want anything slipping through the cracks when it came to her son's mental health. IT was something Emma, Neal and she all agreed on. Henry had been through too much, he needed to get it out somehow, "I know it hurts. IT's not easy…. but it's better than the alternative."

Bottling up his feelings might end up making him angry…and if someone came along like Rumple had done…

Regina couldn't even think about Henry becoming like she had.

"Do you want something to eat?" she asked.

"I'm not really hungry"

"I can make hot chocolate like you like."

"No, I just sort of want to go to bed."

"Okay," Regina awkwardly rubbed his shoulder. They should talk about today, but what could she say? Being good got you a happily ever after…. just occasionally? It hadn't done Dracula's victims any good.

Being good lost Snow her daughter for 28 years.

Regina walked up the stairs and heard a shower running in her room. She went tense for a moment, but realized it might have been Red and rushed in.

It was Red, curled up in a tight ball in the running shower. Regina gave a relieved noise and turned off the water, which was now freezing cold and climbed in the tub with her, "Red, are you alright?"

"He's dead," Red whispered.

Thank God, that'd have been awkward to tell the townspeople after assuring them he was done for.

"Are you hurt?" Regina brushed her soaking wet hair from her face.

"I was," Red said without emotion, "He fought…. like a cornered animal that knew it was about to die. What we had to do to make sure he was dead…."

Regina shuddered and looked at the bloodstained clothes that clung to her.

Red stared ahead, "I thought…when we killed him, I wouldn't feel any better. You know, how sometimes heroes go too far and they realize that it wasn't worth it and it wouldn't bring back whoever their enemy killed. But I didn't feel worse, it felt _good_ doing to him what we did after he killed all those people."

Regina knew what it was like, that appeal of darkness was addicting. It allowed all sorts of things you could get away with that you couldn't if you were a hero.

"I think my grandmother would be ashamed of me," Red admitted.

"Your crossbow wielding grandmother would NOT be ashamed of you," Regina told her, "If there was anyone that understood killing her enemies, it'd be Granny. You did what you had to, you killed a monster and you helped save all of us."

"But this is how it starts," Red sobbed, "And I don't want to go down that road. I don't want something like this to turn _easy."_

"It won't," Regina promised, "I won't let it. This is a onetime thing; it will not happen again."

"You can't know that."

"I can. You're dating the evil queen, remember?" Regina told her, "I know what it's like. I know the signs. I'll protect you."

Red buried her face in her knees and cried, Regina pulled her closer.

She had her son back, she had the woman she loved safe and alive ….and none of it felt good.

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Rumple had broken his word to Belle that the dark days were over.

Dracula had fought hard; he had fought brutally. He moved so fast and was so strong that Rumple was certain he and Red would die several times before the bastard's head finally rolled; courtesy of him holding Dracula down by impaling his chest with the dagger and Red yanking his head off.

And then came the dismemberment, and the burning. He expected Red to balk, and judge and wish to go home but she hadn't. She stayed by his side the whole time, even after he'd healed her when Dracula tried to rip out her throat.

Before they'd killed him, Rumple had tortured him. He hadn't thought twice about it until Dracula was dead and that was what worried him.

That darkness was still there, just under the skin. While he may have had the stomach to do what needed to be done, and Belle was learning to accept that, it was far different when he realized he would always exceed what was acceptable for the heroes when it came to violence and vengeance.

He saw a quiet Red home, healed himself, magicked some clean clothes and came inside the house. There was only one lamp lit in the living room. He saw Belle sitting in her chair that she usually sat in to wait for him when they were about to have a discussion.

"You're alive," she whispered.

He nodded, "Yeah."

"Is Dracula?"

He pulled off his coat, "No."

Belle was quiet as she waited for him to continue.

Rumpelstiltskin took his time as he moved to sit across from his girlfriend. He fidgeted, brushed his hair back and took a shaking breath, "I didn't…make his death easy."

Belle closed her eyes tightly, "To kill a vampire is…difficult. You did what you had to do right? It wasn't vengeance, it was necessary, right?"

"I made it worse."

Belle sat quietly, her face went from concern to unemotional.

"He killed Alex," Rumpelstiltskin reminded her, "He murdered my son. Alex never got to see his daughter marry, he never got to see her little daughter. He tortured, assaulted, and turned countless women. He would do the same to Emma, Mina, and whomever else. He may have even done it to you. He took you, and thralled you and I couldn't protect you as he walked boldly in our house to make his demands. I wish I could say that I was sorry for what I did. But I can't. I will never be the man that you envision me to be, too much has been done. I've seen too much, done too much…"

"So you just want me to accept it, is that it?" Belle asked, not exactly judging, but he could hear the caution in her voice.

"No. But we have to find a compromise. I don't want to be the man that has to be brutal. But I have to be. You can't change me and I can't change for you, not completely. No matter how much I want to. There will always be Mr. Darks and there will always be Dracula's. They will kill and they will maim. Emma will need help to defeat them and that has to be me. I can't strip it away as much as I'd like to."

"You don't have to torture, and you don't have to kill in vengeance."

"Perhaps I don't," he whispered, "But it was my _son_. He took my son and I wasn't there to save either of them."

The words caused his voice to crack and he started crying. His boy was dead, Mina was dead, her daughter was an orphan now…. or her dad didn't know or didn't care about his daughter.

Was he going to lose Belle too?

Belle went to take his hand as he grieved Alex and Mina…if he hadn't dropped Bae, if he hadn't brought the curse…if he'd taken them with him…

He lost people no matter what he did.

Without a word, Belle put a small box that Rumple immediately recognized on the table, and she sat back, "I found it…. when I was looking for something to clean up…. where Mina died."

He closed his eyes. With Belle and everyone else here, he had taken the small box and hidden it where the cleaning supplies were. No one had to clean here, he used magic to keep everything tidy. It was needed when so many heroes live here temporarily, "I was looking for a time to ask you. Nothing seemed right. And now I've gone too far and risked losing you again."

Belle was quiet, "Oh Rumple."

"You don't have to give an answer," Rumple told her quickly, he didn't want to hear it, not now, not after he told her he would never change.

Belle seemed relieved, "Let's just go to bed."

He felt a bit of a shock that she was still willing to stay, "Even after everything?"

Belle nodded, "I'm exhausted. And I imagine you are too. I just…. I need to sleep."

She took his hand and led him up to their room.

And even though he was a Dark One who didn't need sleep, he thankfully fell into a dreamless slumber that he'd be wishing he had more of in the coming weeks.

0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

 **7 Years Ago**

Everything hurt.

Jonathan was dead, he was murdered before Mina's very eyes because she wasn't strong enough to fight the monster off the multiple times that he attacked her.

She lost the baby she was carrying shortly after. She wasn't strong enough to carry it to term. She was so selfish, she should have thought about the baby and stopped hurting so much that she stressed her body out and lost it.

It was all her fault; she shouldn't have been so weak.

It was the first thing she thought of when she went to bed at night, and all throughout the night when she could rarely sleep, she dreamed things that sent her screaming from the bed.

But the hardest part was arriving and having to face that the world still moved while she felt suffocated and frozen in place. People still talked about their various lives and scandals. Mina tried to pay attention but it didn't work. All she could focus on was trying to breathe and get through every agonizing second of being awake.

The wrong person died that night, and as Mina realized that, she grew angry at herself and at Jonathan for the fact he died. It wasn't his fault and she knew that, but how was she expected to adapt here in this bloody fake society with these bloody fake people?

"Mina?"

Mina was pulled out of her thoughts by her mother. Her mother hadn't said anything about them leaving her, thank God. Once she heard that Jonathan had died, she had jumped in, taking care of Mina again. She was there when Mina needed her and knew when to back off when Mina needed to be alone. If there was anything to say about her mother, she was quite good about knowing how to do that.

"I've brought you something to eat."

Mina went back to staring out the window, "I'm not hungry."

"You haven't eaten for two days."

"I can't keep it down," Mina confessed and fought tears, he had been dead for a week, and everything felt raw. Mina wasn't sure how this would stop hurting, she wasn't sure it ever could.

Her mother sat across from her and put her hand on her foot, "You know when your father disappeared, I didn't eat much either."

Mina rested her forehead on the window, "I remember."

He had just not come home on a train ride, and there was no body found. Her uncles that went to look and hated him used it for fuel in their belief that he was capable of just abandoning them one day.

"You know….one day it doesn't hurt as much," she told her, "It still hurts, and some days you will have a hard time getting through it or some nights when you're crying out and reaching for his side of the bed…but it will get better."

Mina supposed her mother would know. She had been with the man she loved for 20 years; 16 of which were Mina's life before he had disappeared. And she supposed that her mother's 20 years would be harder to get over than love Mina had for Jonathan which had been for three years…

"But Mina, if you want to talk, I want you to know that I'm here," she went to take Mina's hand.

And then Mina broke, the tears poured down her face. She squeezed her mother's hand back. She had kept this quiet for a week for obvious reasons, but she was just so desperate to confess everything that had happened, "Jonathan didn't die of the same disease he had last year, mum."

Her mom stopped and looked up, "What?"

And then the whole story came out, it tumbled in a jumble of words that she struggled to keep coherent as she looked at her mother pleadingly, begging for her to be believed. She told her everything; she told her about what happened to Jonathan in Transylvania, to her and Lucy's attacks and how Jonathan and Lucy truly died.

And she told her about the baby that she wasn't strong enough to keep alive.

By the time she was done, the sun started to set and she was feeling so exhausted that she was certain she would sleep all night tonight. A burden had been lifted. Now she could talk with her mother about everything-

But then she saw the look in her mother's eyes. She saw the hesitation and the doubt and she knew before her mother even said anything that she didn't believe her.

"Mina," her mother started and hesitated, "You've been through a terrible trauma."

And reality came crashing down, "Mum, don't say it."

"You have lost your childhood friend, your husband and your child to a disease from another country that you only barely survived."

"No, but mum, it was a lie, we came up with a lie because no one would believe us."

"You're breaking down," her mother told her through her own tears and went to stroke her face, "There is no…. undead creatures of the night, there are no demons that attacked you. You would have told me. The answer is simple. You fell ill, you…. you misremembered what happened. It's a lot to take in"

"Mum."

"It's scientific!" her mother pleaded, "Years and years people claim about demonic possession when it's just insanity."

Mina's voice broke, "But I'm not insane, mother. I know what happened, I lived it every night and that whole journey. I'm not insane."

"You were in a strange country…that's practically newborn," her mother told her gently, tears pouring down her own face, "There are things there we probably haven't discovered yet. You brought back the illness Jonathan had when we found him; Lucy got ill, and you got ill and he got it again."

"Mum."

Her mother stood up, shaking, "It's alright, Mina, we'll get this sorted out. We'll have you talk to some doctors."

"An institution?" Mina's voice cracked, "Don't you know what they'll do to me in there? They'll hurt me, they'll torture me and I'm not insane!"

Her mother went to kneel in front of her, "That won't happen, not to you. We'll find a more forward thinking one. You can rest, you can gather yourself. No one will harm you, no one would hold this against you when you return home. You've been through so much."

Mina's mind was racing. She knew her mother didn't exactly KNOW any doctors of any institution of a forward thinking institution. She had no doubt that her mother would try to find her a place where she could be safe and recuperate.

But Mina couldn't risk it, she couldn't risk going to those places that would pick at her brain until she was no longer her. She couldn't believe her mother would accept such a thing. Hadn't she been through enough? Why would she hand her to monsters like that when she was perfectly sane? She was her daughter! Shouldn't her mother know when her daughter was insane or not?

Mina was shaking as she just stared at her mother's pleading eyes with horror. She withdrew her hands. Her mother looked hurt as she pulled away, but Mina suddenly couldn't feel sorry for her. Not when her mother was considering sending her away.

"I'm…. going to go speak to Lucy's father," her mum stood up and arranged her skirts, "He has connections, we'll…we'll find you a place. It won't be like the others, you'll see."

But Mina couldn't take that chance, this was her mind they would be playing with and Mina knew that she was sane.

When her mother left, Mina went to pen a letter of help to Van Helsing. He had been there; he could confirm what had happened.

But it would take too long for the letter to reach him, he had returned back to Germany. She would be in an asylum and he wouldn't be able to reach her.

Mina was too angry with her mother for not believing her. And she felt so betrayed that her mother would send her away rather than change her beliefs.

And maybe she went a little mad.

Because when she realized there would be no escaping a place like an asylum until they got what they wanted, she pulled on her cloak, took some money and food and just left.

And this time, she did not return.

000000000000000000000000000000000000

Mina Harker's funeral had a bigger turnout than what Emma expected. She had still been an outsider, they hadn't known her. The few in the house had known her and she still had her secrets to everyone but Emma.

But a lot of the town turned up, Emma guessed that when someone sacrificed themselves so that a dangerous enemy could be killed, people felt obligate to at least come and say thank you.

She wondered if they'd have welcomed her if she'd survived. Mina hadn't thought they would. The idea of a hero killing and still being a hero would blow their minds, she'd thought. It would've made her an outcast.

Emma saw Neal go to stand beside her and wordlessly she took his hand. He didn't react at first, he just tightened his grip.

Emma looked at her parents, her father was still so weak that he could hardly stand. Red and Regina stood hand in hand, so did Belle and Rumple. Emma couldn't look at Rumple or Red, she should have been the one to finish Dracula off. She was the savior; she should have saved everyone.

And what did she nearly do? Offer herself to that bastard to save people she knew he wouldn't spare.

Her hand tightened on Neal's, he looked down and then back at the casket, "I know this is just until the funeral's over. But I'm here."

And then it all seemed…. petty, now that she thought of it. She put it off, she led him on, she didn't let her walls down, and for what?

She couldn't keep doing it. They needed to talk. She had been right; it was always going to be Neal.

"No, it's not just for the funeral," Emma admitted.

Neal looked at her in surprise.

"There's a lot of things we have to talk about," Emma admitted, "But I want you to know I've made my decision."

"I don't want you to do this just because you're grieving."

"I'm not, it was always going to be you," Emma told him and looked back at the lowering casket, "We knew it even before she died, I told her before this happened. It was always going to be you."

She had no doubt she and Mina would've been a formidable force had things been different. She liked to think they may have even been happy together. There was at least a lot of trust there and both women had thought that more important than love in a lot of cases.

But it was always going to be Neal.

Emma reached over to brush her hand through her son's hair. It was a hard day for everyone. They would go home, they would eventually eat and then Emma would tell him. They just had to get this out of the way first.

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0000000000000000000000000000000

"It was a beautiful funeral," Snow told her daughter, "You did a really good job bringing it all together"

"Yeah well," Emma looked over to Graham's tombstone, "I've done it before."

Her mother squeezed her hand, "Are you sure about this? All of it?"

Emma nodded, "It's time for me to step up and face all this other stuff I have to face."

"Okay," Snow went to hug her, "There's a few places we can look at tomorrow."

"I know."

"Or we can build something," Charming told her, "Maybe talk to Rumple about having something with lots of land."

"I think it's best we stay close to town," Emma told them.

"Not big enough yards for me," He looked at everyone in his family, "I grew up on a farm!"

"Okay maybe we'll find a compromise if we all want to stay together," Snow went to hug her daughter, "You coming?"

"I think I'm going to stay for a few more minutes," Emma told them and hugged her dad, "I'll be at the wake, just give me a little bit."

Emma waited until they were gone before she pushed the stroller closer to the grave and checked on a sleeping Lizzie. It was a little cold, she tucked the blankets around the baby and stroked the baby's head.

"Bigger turnout than expected."

Emma looked up to see Rumple coming up to see her. She straightened and checked on the sleeping baby again, "Yeah, well it wasn't something I really thought about until I saw the big crowd, so…"

Rumple checked on the baby as well and then looked at the grave, "It was a lovely funeral."

"Thanks for helping with the casket."

"Let's hope it's the last burial for a while," Rumpelstiltskin muttered and they both stared at the tombstone.

"I hope she's happy," Emma finally said and looked at him, "What was it like for you? When you died?"

Rumple was quiet at first, "Nothing pleasant."

Emma felt a chill run up her back, "Maybe it'll be different for her."

"I hope so."

Emma had to believe it was different, but now there was something caught in the back of her mind, she had wished of all the times for Rumple to lie, this would have been it.

"How the baby?"

"She doesn't cry so much anymore," Emma took the baby's hand, "But she misses her mom"

Rumple was quiet, "I have the ash from Jefferson's hat. The one that George burned? I think I've broken the code in putting it to an object and creating a portal."

Emma looked up, "To go home?"

"No, I think it'd cause more problems than it would help to go home, deal with all that again. I think it's best we stay here. I'm talking about her home," he nodded to Lizzie.

Panic shot through Emma, she shook her head, "No."

"Emma," Rumple warned, "We have to take her back to her grandmother."

"Absolutely not."

"Then who's going to raise her, my dear?"

"I'M going to raise her!

Rumple blinked, "I'm sorry?"

"Neal and I talked about it," Emma told him, "So did Henry and I. We're going to be a family, we're going to raise Lizzie and give her a home. She'll be safe with me; she'll have people that love her."

"Her grandmother will love her." 

"After what she did?"

"She's not your daughter."

"She could be!"

Rumple started to say something, then stopped, and his face softened, "You weren't with Mina romantically when she died. You didn't adopt Lizzie. You have no legal right to her."

"Since when do we care about legal rights?" Emma snapped and put her hand protectively on the stroller, "It's what Mina would've wanted."

Rumple sighed, "Mina wanted her daughter to go home."

"No she didn't, not after her mom betrayed her like that."

"Emma," Rumple told her and drew out an envelope addressed to him, "She left this for me. She knew that it'd be hard for you if she did die. She slipped it into my coat pocket before she...she did what she did. It was her wish that Lizzie go home to be with her grandmother."

"But I can keep her safe!"

"I know," he told her softly, which only made Emma angrier.

"What if he comes back?" she demanded, "And we aren't there to keep her safe? What if he kills both of them? What if her enemies find them?" 

"We can't live our lives or go against Mina's wishes based on 'what if', Emma."

"And maybe you're wrong," Emma said, "Mina wasn't in her right mind when…if she wrote that! She was about to commit suicide! She wasn't thinking straight!"

"Emma," Rumple told her.

"No. No, Lizzie is-."

"– Mina's daughter," Rumple reminded her, "And as we both know…. if one of our children died and they had an offspring…. we both would want to get to know them, we would want them by our side if our child couldn't be there themselves. Whatever Beth did, she deserves to know what happened to Mina."

Emma closed her eyes to keep from crying again, "If he came back and killed Lizzie, this would all be for nothing."

"We have to accept he's dead for now," Rumple told her, "Perhaps we could convince her to come back with us. Perhaps that would be a good compromise. But in the meantime, this is Mina's wish, and I think if you went against that, there's a part of you that would regret it forever."

Emma couldn't look at him, "How long?"

"Couple of weeks," he told her.

"Long enough to get attached."

"I think you already are," he told her and swallowed, "Whatever her mother did, it can't be worse than that I've done. And if Neal can find a place in his heart to give me a chance, Beth deserves one too."

Emma stared down at the ground, "I want to do right by her. I can do that by keeping the baby safe. She died because of me, she died because I was ready to give myself over to try and save the family."

"That's not true," Rumple told her, "Mina had her mind made up before you decided to give yourself over, you know that."

Emma crossed her arms tighter around herself, "The baby deserves to be safe."

"I know."

"I helped take care of her while Mina was here. And…if we give her back, I'll probably never see her again."

"That's up to you."

Emma closed her eyes. She knew he was right, if this was against Mina's wish, she would feel guilty. It wasn't on her to make decisions on Mina's daughter, if Mina had left her to her mom, Emma had to at least check it out.

"I'm going to the wake," Rumple told her, "Would you like a ride?"

Emma really just wanted to avoid it, but she couldn't, "Yeah."

Rumple sighed and without a word, handed her the letter, "Something to remember her by."

Emma accepted it and tucked it in her coat.

She would read it later.

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

 **7 Years Ago**

It was raining in Germany when Mina located Van Helsing's manor and knocked. It was getting to be evening. It was time for entertaining, and when she was allowed in by the butler of the house, she heard a party going on in the dining room.

The butler instead, led her to the empty study and shut the door behind her. She shivered as she went to sit in front of the roaring fire and warmed herself.

His library was large, Mina could only dream of reading so many books, and for a brief moment she imagined what it might be like to sit in a chair on a night like this, reading the evening away by a warm fire.

But such a thing felt like she was betrayal Jonathan and she felt shame.

The doors opened; Mina stood to see Van Helsing, dressed for the party come in. Without a word, he took her in, gave a sigh, and went to embrace her.

Mina clung to him. The whole journey was stressful, she felt like a fleeing child running away from home, like any minute her mother and the army of doctors she had convinced that Mina was unwell might corner her and drag her back.

"I received your telegram," he pulled back and looked her over, "I've had a room prepared for you, I'm occupied as of now but I'll be up to check on you soon. I'm sure you'd rather rest."

"I would," Mina squeezed his hand, "Thank you."

"Abraham?"

They both turned to see a red haired middle aged man standing in the doorway, "Are you alright?"

"Yes of course," Van Helsing lowered her voice, "Mrs. Harker, I'd like you to meet Alexios, he's come to visit us from Greece."

Mina gave a small curtsey, though she did not look like the man in the eyes.

"The Mrs. Harker you've told me so much about?" Alexios asked and took a sip of his wife.

Mina finally looked up and looked over at Van Helsing in shock.

"Alexios is the head of a group of people that hunt the sort of thing that Dracula was."

"I did not know that was a profession," Mina whispered.

"We'll discuss it later; we must get back. I'll have Alma bring you up something to eat."

Mina nodded, "Thank you."

"And when you've rested, we MUST talk, I have so many questions about how you survived what you did," Alexios told her.

"I really don't wish to relive it yet again," Mina told him as she passed.

"Yes, but it might allow us to prevent such a thing from happening again."

Mina stopped and turned, "Would it?"

"Indeed. There's a whole world out there of beings that do what Dracula did, or worse. We just…make sure it doesn't happen again. You could benefit from a world like that, I imagine."

"Alexios," Abraham warned.

"Of course, my apologies. I'm sure you're tired."

But Mina's mind was racing as she went upstairs to her prepared room.

It didn't take long as the party went on downstairs that she got restless and went back downstairs into the study where she found Van Helsing and Alexios talking.

"Mina, is something wrong?"

Mina stares at Alexios, "Tell me about hunting."

"Mina. Van Helsing whispered, "That would not be a wise path."

"Would I really stop the sort of monsters that hurt me?"

"Mina," Van Helsing warned, "It would not be that simple. It was a difficult life, even more so for a woman. Most hunters don't live to thirty."

"What else can I do?" she asked, "I can't go back home, my mother thought I was insane. I can't just sit here in this house until something else comes along, I can't play the civilized lady knowing what I know."

"You are more than welcome here as long as you wish."

"People who say that don't realize they don't want that to last forever. If I can save people, if I can make a difference, then this is the path I would wish to take."

"Is saving people the real reason why you would consider this? Or revenge on a being that we killed?"

Mina's eyes narrowed at that, but she had made up her mind. She turned back to Alexios, "Tell me about hunting."

000000000000000000000000000000

 **Present Day - Two Weeks Later**

 _The dream began, like it had been for two weeks for Emma._

 _She was on a beach she didn't recognize from anywhere she'd been in the real world. She was sitting on a porch chair, in the sand, breathing the smell of the sea and listening the waves. She knew she was wearing the red bikini with the red sundress, just like she always wore in this dream._

 _Mina was beside her, dressed in a yellow, with the white flowers, the same sort of dress she'd been buried in._

 _"Lizzie smiled at Neal today," Emma told her, "Thought his smile would light up the whole block. He's getting attached."_

 _Mina was silent, "You're not taking her to my mother."_

 _"Rumple's still trying to find right potion to create a portal. We can ask Jefferson to help, or I can figure it out-," Emma stopped, "But I told you this yesterday."_

 _"You did."_

 _"He's not picking up his phone…or answering his door."_

 _"He didn't yesterday either."_

 _Emma was quiet. They didn't have a way to bring Lizzie to her mom and while Emma wanted to raise the baby and keep her safe, she felt like a failure when she was looking at Mina and acknowledging her wishes, "I would want it, if Henry and I fell out and he died and left a child behind…"_

 _Mina was quiet, Emma found out from these dreams that she didn't talk much._

 _"But you were supposed to survive," Emma felt her voice crack, "You were supposed to be the one to take your daughter and make it right with your mom and keep them safe. If your mom can't protect her in case we're wrong and he comes back, who will? If anything happens to Lizzie then- if anything happens to Lizzie because she wasn't with me, then everything you did for her would be for nothing."_

 _"Storybrooke isn't safe either."_

 _"I know. But at least here I can keep an eye on her. I can keep her safe."_

 _"Like you kept me safe?"_

 _Emma looked over at her sharply, she felt her heart start to race in her chest at the malice in her friend's words, "I couldn't know you'd stab yourself, did I?"  
_

 _"You have no idea how painful it is to be dead," Mina told her, "Emma, we need your help."_

 _Emma felt the dread clench her stomach, "Mina?"_

 _Mina turned to her, "You need to access the Underworld, Emma."_

 _Emma was confused, "I can't, I'm not dead."_

 _"You can access it," Mina told her, "But you need Rumple's help."_

 _"What's happening?" Emma asked, "What's wrong? What's changed?"_

 _"Get Rumpelstiltskin, get to the Underworld. I need your help but I can't do it alone. He's watching me, he has power over us. He'll have less so with you"_

 _"Mina?"_

 _Mina let out a cry of pain. Blood stained the dress where she'd stabbed herself. Emma pulled back in shock, but the dream always ended up like this, where she was watching Mina die all over again. Once she even tried to use her magic to save her but it was no use._

 _"Help us, Emma," Mina reached out to grab her arm._

And then Emma bolted awake to a crying baby.

Beside her Neal stirred awake, "Emma?"

Emma glanced over to him and swallowed, "It's okay, Neal…go back to sleep"

"Is it the nightmare again?"

Emma bit the inside of her cheek and pulled back the covers. This was where they were now. She had a house with her family. It had walls, and rooms and more than one bathroom. Her parents slept on the other side of the house with baby Robert while Emma had this side with Henry.

Neal was just now allowed to stay over. Emma hadn't slept with him yet; they were still working on that bit of trust again. But he was here, staying with her, and he was playing papa to his son and the baby she was temporarily raising. Rumple still hadn't remotely considered caving and letting her have the baby permanently.

Emma climbed out of bed and went to the crib, "It's okay, Lizzie. Shh, there we go. I'm here."

She felt the baby's back shivering as she tried to calm the baby down. Something was wrong, she didn't know if it was just with herself or the baby but something about all this didn't feel right.

"Hey," Neal threw the covers back and sat up, "These nightmares you have, that you avoid really talking about-."

"Neal," Emma didn't want to talk about feelings right now.

He looked up at her, "They wouldn't take place on a beach, would they?"

Emma just stared at him, "Excuse me…. I think I have to call your dad."

00000000000000000000000000000000

Rumple ignored the ringing telephone when it brought him out of a dead sleep. People always wanted something now that they thought he was domesticated. If it was an emergency, they could come to his door. If it was someone sick, the worthless fairies could keep them alive until morning.

He heard Belle sigh and roll over to answer, "Belle."

"Hush, I was awake anyway," Belle yawned and answered, "Hello? Oh hey, Emma. Yeah he's here."

"I'm asleep"

"She can hear you," Belle told him and went back to the phone, "What is it? What? You're dreaming what?"

Rumple's eyes opened, and he turned to his new wife, "Belle?"

Belle looked at him, "They're dreaming about Mina and the beach too."

Through the phone, Rumple could hear Emma practically squawk Belle's last word in that sentence

" _TOO?!"_

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Rumple, Belle, Emma, and Neal didn't have to talk for very long before they all came to the same conclusion. If Mina was somehow reaching out to them from beyond the grave, it had to mean something. And so after about ten minutes of talking with Rumple, a plan was formed.

All she had to do was tell her family.

"You're going to _hell?!"_ Snow asked as they sat in the diner before it opened.

"The underworld is not hell," Rumple told them, "It's both paradise and the pit….and something in between."

"People don't just reach out from the grave," Emma told her mother, "If Mina managed to find a way to do it then she had to have a reason."

"And so you're going to a place where people are dead?" Charming asked.

"I JUST want to make sure she's okay," Emma told them, "I'm not looking to turn over the underworld, I'm not looking to get involved in anyone's business. I just want to check on her and if she's okay, then leave. If not, then I'm going to help her to rest in peace. The nightmares won't stop if we don't. And I know we've all dreamed about her and that beach."

"It's not always a beach," Red said, and then took a sip of her coffee, "I'm going with you."

"What?" Regina asked.

"I have reasons for going," Red said quickly, "I just want to make sure Granny is okay too. I never got to say goodbye."

"This isn't a field trip," Rumpelstiltskin said, "This is dangerous. Hades won't be thrilled to see living people in his realm! Have you ever heard of Orpheus? He's the only living person besides Persephone to enter the underworld. He went to save the woman he loved. For those of you that don't know the tale, it didn't end well for him."

There was a few moments of silence.

"I'm going too," Henry said.

"Henry," Emma warned, "No."

"You're going!" Henry argued.

"I'm just going to be gone for a day or so, to make sure she's okay and I'll be home. If it's dangerous, I don't want you going down there."

"How do we even get in?" Regina asked.

"We?" Rumple scoffed, "Just how many are going?"

Everyone raised their hands."

Rumple narrowed his eyes, "Someone has to stay here for the babies. It would be preferable if it was one of their parents. That goes for Henry too."

Henry went to argue, but Regina put her hand on his shoulder, "I'll stay."

"Thank you," Emma told her.

"I didn't have much love for her," Regina told them, "And this town needs to stay safe. I'll stay."

Snow and Charming looked at each other.

"I owe it to her to see that she's okay," Charming whispered.

"But you're still weak."

"I'm stronger now," he told her, though not by much. Dracula had taken a lot out of him and he may never fully recover, "And baby Robert needs you far more than he'd need me, you're his mother."

"And you're his father, it's just as important."

He smiled, "Just a day. I promise."

Snow thought about it and nodded, "Just for a day."

"We'll be back before you know it," Rumple promised them.

"How does it work?" Red asked, "How do we get over?"

"You'd need the blood of a powerful sorcerer who has died before," Rumple muttered and looked at him, "Which I have. I can lead us there."

"Get packed," Emma said, "We leave in a few hours."

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There was a lot of infighting in the family as the few hours passed. Henry wasn't talking to Emma as she was leaving for a dangerous mission without him and might not come back. Emma couldn't really argue the point since they all barely survived the last two villains.

Snow and charming squabbled the whole morning about who would go to support Emma and who would stay with the baby.

And lastly, Regina didn't exactly fight Red. She understood why she needed to go, and supported her in that. However, unlike most of her counterparts, she HAD read the story of Orpheus, she knew how it went. And if Hades and Persephone were anything like that mythology….

So she went to Rumple, and she secured some of his blood. Just in case they needed to go for them.

"You sure this is going to work?" Emma asked Rumple as they stood on the edge of the bank.

"No," Rumple said as Emma looked back at her angry son, "But what other choice do we have?

Rumple cut his hand and muttered a spell as it hit the water. Immediately the clouds covered the sun and fog rose from the water.

Emma quickly went to hug Henry before she left. She felt him tense, "Just for a day, I promise. And then I'm coming home."

Henry wrapped his arms around her, "Just come back alive."

"I will," Emma kissed the top of his head and turned to see a boat being maneuvered by a robed figure in a stick."

Emma looked at the Greek coin in her hand to pay the fare and took a shuddering breath.

Just for a day or so, just to make sure she was alright.

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 **7 Years Ago**

As they talked well into the night, Van Helsing saw off the last of his guests. Mina remained in the study, talking to Alexios about the sort of life she could have.

"You would have to take lessons, you would have to be trained; Marksmanship, research, skilled combat. It is not an easy life for a woman to live in. Our associate was right about that. There will be those who will want to hurt you, there will be those who will try to force you into things you don't want to do. There will be those that don't take you seriously because of your gender. There is a chance you will die."

"There's nothing for me here."

"Our associate seems to care about you a great deal. Perhaps you should rethink the life you might have if you stay here. A professor's wife is not so unfortunate, and you would be safe and warm."

"I cannot," she said, knowing what he was implying. It felt like she would be unfaithful to Jonathan, and the fact Van Helsing had been there for everything might be a constant reminder, "He deserves someone that would love him."

Not someone that woke up screaming and spent her waking days loving her dead husband.

"Then I suppose I'll contact some of my connections," Alexios told her, "And we'll get you started on your training."

"Very well."

"You know he'll travel with you; he'll want to keep you safe after he failed."

"He didn't fail," Mina snapped, "Dracula is dead."

The man smiled and gave a look in the kettle he was now using to drink tea. Mina could not see the reflection, if she did, she'd have panicked at the blue flames of his true form pouring from where his hair should be. It was only a taste of his true form.

"Of course," Hades smirked at her and took a drink of his tea.

If he had his way, Van Helsing would follow Ms. Harker and both would be dead within the year.

"Now. When will we begin?"


End file.
